Drought — West Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

2018-05-01 to 2018-05-31 · West Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Extreme drought conditions from April deteriorated to exceptional drought on May 1, 2018. Several small wildfires started along the west slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The Santa Fe National Forest was closed at the end of May.

Wider weather episode

Widespread severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of April 2018 continued through May 2018. Severe drought expanded to nearly 90 percent of the state, of which 60 percent was deemed extreme drought or worse. Exceptional drought expanded to 18 percent of New Mexico. Spring runoff was nearly nonexistent at most river gages after record low snowpack at several key SNOTEL locations. Precipitation across central and western New Mexico was well below normal and temperatures were above normal. Spotty showers and thunderstorms impacted central and western New Mexico on a couple days however precipitation amounts were just a drop in the bucket compared to long-term deficits. Several back door frontal boundaries brought much needed showers and thunderstorms to parts of eastern New Mexico. Some areas of eastern New Mexico picked up between one and four inches of rainfall in May, along with a few bouts of severe hail and high winds. Some minor improvements were made to drought conditions along the Texas border. Periodic red flag conditions impacted nearly all of New Mexico during May 2018 which aided several new fire starts. The Buzzard Fire in western Catron County grew to over 30,000 acres after a hunter left a campfire abandoned. Nearly the entire state was in stage two fire restrictions and the entire Santa Fe National Forest was closed at the end of May.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 748905. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.