Drought — Albuquerque Metro Area, New Mexico

2018-01-01 to 2018-01-31 · Albuquerque Metro Area, New Mexico

Event narrative

Severe drought conditions were declared on January 23, 2018 for the Albuquerque Metro Area. Precipitation amounts were near zero during the last three months of 2017 coupled with above normal temperatures. The Albuquerque Sunport reported 95 consecutive days with no measurable precipitation through January 9, 2018. This was the fifth longest streak on record since 1892. The dry streak was broken with 0.03 inches of precipitation, followed by no measurable precipitation again for the remainder of the month. There was still no measurable snowfall for the season at the Albuquerque Sunport at the end of January 2018.

Wider weather episode

An exceptionally long stretch of dry weather over the southwest United States that began in early October allowed drought conditions to return to New Mexico by early January. Much of central and eastern New Mexico experienced wet conditions through the monsoon season into late September so drought was holding in the abnormally dry to moderate categories. Far western New Mexico did not experience as much precipitation through the same period so severe drought conditions returned to the area from Gallup southward toward the Gila Wilderness. A storm system on January 10, 2018 and another on January 20, 2018 brought some minor relief to the area but dry conditions returned quickly thereafter. These weak storm systems were no match for the extended period of well below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures for the state. Severe drought spread into over 60 percent of the state by the end of January 2018. Snowpack conditions were the worst ever recorded at several sites since the SNOTEL network was installed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 729393. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.