Drought in Espanola Valley, New Mexico

Exceptional drought conditions from March 2021 continued in April.

Drought conditions across northern and central New Mexico remained largely unchanged during the month of April 2021. The month of April was one that was mainly defined by dry and windy conditions for New Mexico with high fire danger noted over several days. Extreme to exceptional drought worsened slightly to about 81 percent with about 53 percent deemed exceptional drought. A slow-moving storm system did impact the area over the last couple days of April which brought beneficial rainfall. The high terrain areas of northern and western New Mexico saw the highest precipitation amounts with totals of about 1 to 2 inches. Central and eastern New Mexico received amounts generally around a quarter of an inch to half an inch of precipitation. However, it was the Four Corners area as well as the northeast corner of the state which received the least amount of precipitation with amounts generally around a tenth of an inch or less.