Precipitation

Precipitation since the water year began on October 1 has been well below average across the Southwest for a third consecutive month. Since the end of December, winter storms that brought precipitation to the region have been few and far between; several events that ferried moisture slightly missed the Southwest, either passing to the north or to the south of the region. Since October 1, only the west-central counties of New Mexico have been wetter than average, with rain and snow measuring more than 200 percent of average in places; the wettest conditions have been in Cibola County (Figure 2a–b). Outside of this wet spot, most of New Mexico has received 50–90 percent of average precipitation. There have been only a few wetter-than-average conditions in Arizona. Several parts of the state have received less than 50 percent of average. The Upper Colorado River Basin, from which most of the streamflow in the Colorado River originates, also has experienced below-average rain and snow since October 1.

One storm, that began beginning on April 14, moved through the region and dropped significant rainfall on northwestern Arizona and west-central New Mexico, pushing totals for the last 30 days above average in parts of these regions (Figures 2c–d). The rest of Arizona and New Mexico, however, have received less than 75 percent of average precipitation, with many areas measuring less than 5 percent of average.