The summer thunderstorm season erupted during the first week of July with pockets of heavy rainfall across the southern third of New Mexico. In fits and spurts, showers and thunderstorms worked their way north and west through the state during July. Only parts of San Juan, Rio Arriba, De Baca, and Guadalupe Counties, as well as northeastern Union County, missed out on near normal or greater than normal rainfall during July.

Even as summer showers and thunderstorms become less frequent and less widespread with August coming to a close, drought conditions will likely only be a concern in parts of northeast New Mexico heading into the fall season.

La Niña conditions, which were primarily responsible for the meager spring precipitation across much of New Mexico, has faded to nuetral conditions across the equatorial Pacific ocean as of mid July.

The current U.S. Drought Monitor map depiction of drought can be found at...
http://drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_state.htm?NM,W

Improvements in moisture and humidity have allowed the Cibola National Forest to lift fire restrictions from the Sandia, Mountainair, Magdalena, and Mount Taylor Ranger Districts as of July 11. Lincoln National Forests also dropped fire restrictions on July 11.

The Navajo Nation retains fire restrictions on the reservation in northwest New Mexico. Campfires are permitted only in developed recreation areas. Smoking and fireworks are prohibited. The Zuni Pueblo entered restrictions on May 11. Most of the Pueblos in New Mexico remain under Stage 1 fire restrictions.

 

The near uniformly dry conditions this spring left several regions with significant precipitation deficits through the first six months of this year. Despite the near normal to abundant July precipitation in most areas of the state, parts of Union county (Pasamonte, Grenville and Amistad for example) still report precipitation deficits.

A few precipitation statistics for select locations for the first seven months of 2008:

The near term weather outlook calls for isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms through the end of August. Short periods of more widespread activity would result from back door cold fronts dropping south into eastern New MExico, and from brief surges of moisture from the south that would impact central and western portions of the state.

For the latest weather forecast for the northern two thirds of New Mexico, please see the NWS WFO Albuquerque Forecast Map.

Reservoir storage is above normal at Abiquiu Lake, El Vado Lake, and Costilla Lake, while water levels were close to normal at Eagle Nest, Navajo Lake and Heron Lake. Well below normal storage persists at Conchas Lake, Elephant Butte Lake, Bluewater Lake, and Santa Rosa Lake.

The Drought Information Statement, and this page, will be updated in early September, or sooner if necessary in response to significant changes in weather, water supply or drought conditions. Updates to the near-term weather outlooks will be posted on a weekly basis.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a multi-agency effort involving the NOAA National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center, the USDA, State and Regional Climate Centers and the National Drought Mitigation Center. Information for this statement has been gather from the NWS and FAA observations sites, state cooperative extension services, the U.S. Geological Survey and other government agencies.