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

2018-12-01 to 2018-12-31 · East Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from November continued through December 2018.

Wider weather episode

Moderate to severe drought conditions across portions of western and central New Mexico at the end of November 2018 improved only slightly through December 2018. Unfortunately, extreme to exceptional drought conditions also persisted over the northwestern half of the state. Severe drought conditions remained at 36 percent of the state, of which around 20 percent was deemed extreme drought or worse. Exceptional drought remained at roughly 15 percent of New Mexico. Precipitation amounts for December 2018 ranged from around one half inch to two inches of parts of central and northern New Mexico. Several winter storm systems moved across the state and brought much needed snowfall to the region. Snow pack conditions continued to improve for the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 791393. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.