Drought — Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico

2002-07-01 to 2002-07-31 · Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico

Wider weather episode

Dry weather dominated for many areas throughout the month. The long awaited summer thunderstorm season began about a week late and with early rainfall amounts that were light and spotty. Hopes for drought relief were dashed during the mid-month as a high pressure center rebuilt over the state and suppressed the showers. Following several weeks of abnormally dry weather at mid-month, showers returned but were brought by unusual northeast to southwest upper level winds. By the end of the month higher elevation forest areas had had enough rain and higher humidity to allow the re-opening of federal and state recreational lands that had been closed due to extreme fire danger since early June or for one the longest closure periods on record. Runoff from rains, however, was still light and new worries began that the Rio Grande River would run dry near Albuquerque before the end of summer.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5307782. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.