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

2018-09-01 to 2018-09-30 · East Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Extreme drought conditions from August continued to improve to severe drought for parts of the area through September 2018. Locations within western San Miguel County improved to moderate drought through September.

Wider weather episode

Widespread severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of August 2018 continued through September 2018 despite more rounds of showers and thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall. Severe drought conditions covered nearly 60 percent of the state, of which around 32 percent was deemed extreme drought or worse. Exceptional drought continued around 15 percent of New Mexico. Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms occurred throughout the month, especially around the higher terrain of central New Mexico, the Rio Grande Valley, and eastern New Mexico. Widespread rainfall amounts of one to three inches occurred across central and eastern New Mexico with less than one inch across the west. The Four Corners region remained mostly dry during September 2018 with no improvement to exceptional drought conditions.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 778091. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.