Drought — San Agustin Plains and Adjacent Lowlands, New Mexico

2021-08-01 to 2021-08-31 · San Agustin Plains and Adjacent Lowlands, New Mexico

Event narrative

Severe drought conditions from July 2021 continued in August.

Wider weather episode

Drought conditions across northern and central New Mexico continued to improve during the month of August 2021. A very active monsoon season continued with daily rounds of scattered to widespread showers and thunderstorms across the area. Extreme to exceptional drought conditions improved to about 21 percent of the state with 0 percent deemed exceptional drought. This marked the first time since September 2020 with no exceptional drought conditions in New Mexico. The most noted drought improvement continued to be across western New Mexico where areas of extreme to exceptional drought decreased. Eastern New Mexico also continued to see large improvements with even the far eastern counties having no drought conditions. Numerous days of beneficial thunderstorm activity produced precipitation totals ranging from 3 to 6 inches with locally higher amounts across southern and eastern New Mexico. Precipitation totals across central and western New Mexico generally ranged from 1 to 3 inches.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 970768. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.