A Dry April So Far - Nothing That Unusual About It.
April Rainfall As Of The 19th.
Year-To-Date Rainfall.
(January 1st - April 19th, 2018).
90-Day % Of Normal Rainfall.
(January 19th - April 19th, 2018).
Year-To-Date Rainfall.
(January 1st - April 19th, 2018).
April Rainfall.
(As Of The 19th).
90-Day % Of Normal Rainfall.
(January 19th - April 19th, 2018).
Roswell, New Mexico (1893 - 2017).
Roswell, New Mexico Airport (1949 - 2018).
Artesia, New Mexico (1906 - 2018).
Hope, New Mexico (1906 - 2018).
Carlsbad, New Mexico (1902 - 2018).
Carlsbad, New Mexico Airport (1930 - 2018).
Hobbs, New Mexico (1913 - 2018).
Tatum, New Mexico (1921 - 2018).
Ruidoso, New Mexico (1942 - 2014).
Elk, New Mexico (1896 - 2018).
Cloudcroft, New Mexico (1988 - 2018).
Note: The Cloudcroft Climate Co-Op Station (1901 - 1987) recorded 4.11" of rain in April 1915.
Mountain Park, New Mexico (1912 - 2017).
Nothing That Unusual About Dry Aprils.
Yes its dry as indicated by the drought index (D2 Severe Drought Conditions in Southeastern New Mexico). But when you look back at our long term rainfall totals and averages (over the past 125 years) you find that there are more dry Aprils than there are wet Aprils. The long term average rainfall for the Southeastern Plains is about .50" to .75".
Our recent occurrences of high winds and blowing dust is normal too. Our driest three months of the year are January, February, and March with April a close 4th. Our wettest three months of the year are July, August, and September. This is mainly due to our annual summer monsoon season which typically begins around the 4th of July and lasts through September. Across the Southeastern Plains our wettest two months are August and September and both average around 1.90" to 2.30" in each of those two months.
All it takes is one or two thunderstorms during April (or any other month for that matter) to dump on us and we end up being wetter than normal for the month. Case in point is this April. No rain for the first 19 days of the month but one thunderstorm this afternoon or evening could potentially dump up to an inch or rain on any given location...and then that would exceed the monthly average and the month would end up wetter than normal. Gotta love the high desert plains weather! Its more often than not all or nothing at all.
The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!
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