Temperature/ Precipitation

Drought Status

Fire Weather

Hydrology

Records and Extremes

Special Features

The 2006 hydrologic story began with a northern New Mexico snowpack on January 1st that was the worst since 1996. Conditions deteriorated such that by March 1st, the snowpack in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico was only 19 percent of normal and had eclipsed the previous record low snowpack of 1981. A new record low snowpack was also recorded in the Gila Basin of southwest New Mexico as of March 1st. Of the 30 New Mexico snow measuring sites maintained by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), 22 were at record low snow water equivalent levels on the first of March, while 3 sites had no snow for the first time on record.

NM snowpack as of 1 March 2006. From NRCS National Water and Climate Center, Portland, OR

Precipitation finally arrived for parts of southern Colorado and far northwest New Mexico during March and April of 2006, but as of May 1st, snowpack water content in the Colorado portion of the upper Rio Grande Basin was only 41 percent of normal, and was a mere 20 percent of normal in the New Mexico portion of the upper Rio Grande Basin. Thus the stage was set for one of the leanest spring snowmelt runoff seasons on record for most of the state.

New Mexico reservoir storage in the Rio Grande Basin as of May 1st was 51 percent of the 30 year normal, while reservoir storage in the Canadian Basin was also well below normal. Water levels at Navajo Reservoir in the far northwest corner of the state were higher than normal due to the carryover effect from the abundant runoff season of the previous year.

Two hydrographs (below) from USGS gauging sites in northern New Mexico (Embudo and Jemez) illustrate how low the observed flows (in blue) were compared to the median daily flows (purple triangles) for late April to late May.

The initial major flash flood event of the summer thunderstorm season was unleashed on parts of Alamogordo on June 22 when up to 4 inches of rain fell over northern Otero County. Flood damage was estimated at two million dollars. A link to the National Weather Service (Santa Teresa/El Paso office) severe weather and flood summary for south central and southwest New Mexico can be found at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/elp/swww/swwb2006b.pdf

On June 26th, 27th, and 29th, high intensity but short duration rainfall resulted in urban and arroyo flooding in parts of Albuquerque. In northern Albuquerque (near Jefferson and Paseo del Norte), 3 inches of rain fell during the evening of the 27th causing flood damages in excess of $100,000 to commercial and residential property in the near north valley. The 0.74 inches of rain that fell at the Albuquerque International Airport during the evening of June 29th exceeded the January 1st through June 28th total of 0.71 inches recorded at the airport.

The thunderstorm rains and associated flooding would become even more widespread through July and August. Statewide, July rainfall was 139 percent of normal while August rainfall was 184 percent of normal. The 2006 July through August period was the wettest July and August period on record for New Mexico.

During the first 10 days of July, a section of Rio Rancho with mostly unpaved streets experienced severe local flooding with storm damages estimated at more than 1 million dollars.

Severe local flooding also occurred in parts of Farmington, Escondida (near Socorro), Belen, Hillsboro, Silver City, and Santa Teresa during July. Heavy flooding due to high intensity rainfall during August was reported in parts of Dona Ana County, Grant County, Sierra County, Otero County, Cibola County, Valencia County, Bernalillo County, Sandoval County, Rio Arriba County, Lincoln County, Santa Fe County, and McKinley County.

The flooding in Belen on August 1st was described as the worst since 1969, while the flooding in Hatch on August 15th forced most residents to evacuate their homes. Heavy runoff flooded Interstate 10 between Deming and Las Cruces for several hours on the 28th and caused the Rio Grande to overflow its banks near Mesilla.

The only known fatalities from the summer flooding occurred near Dixon (Rio Arriba County) during the evening of August 15th, and near Church Rock (McKinley County) during the evening of the 24th. One man died when he drove his car into flood covered NM highway 75 below Dixon, while a man and his 2 year old son died when their vehicle was washed away as they attempted to drive through a flooded arroyo on a tribal road near Church Rock.

The first 10 days of October were also especially wet, pushing the statewide average precipitation for October to about 166 percent of normal. Conditions gradually dried out starting in mid October. November was the first drier-than-normal month since June.

Just as the summer thunderstorm season was getting under way, reservoir storage at the end of June in the Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico averaged 35 percent of normal; ranging from 101 percent of normal at Abiquiu Lake to 14 percent of normal at Bluewater Lake. As of the end of November, reservoir storage ranged from 141 percent of normal at Abiquiu Lake to 19 percent of normal at Bluewater Lake.

The low point at Elephant Butte Lake occurred on July 28th when the water level dropped to 4308.5 feet mean sea level (msl) and storage was 183,870 acre-feet (14.7 percent of normal). At the end of November, the water level was 4336.4 feet msl (almost 28 feet higher then it was in late July) and storage was 458,840 acre-feet (about 2.5 times greater than it had been in late July). The summer rainfall and associated runoff had increased Elephant Butte storage to 37.6 percent of normal by the end of November.

Reservoir storage at the end of November 2006 in the Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico averaged 52 percent of normal, up 4 percent from one year ago.

For the most recent New Mexico reservoir storage graphic, see:

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