9400' elevation, October 12, 2005. And Baldy looks like it will be white for the rest of the season...So how are we doing for water?? The city's reservoir is holding at around 60%, despite what seems to be LOTS of recent precipitation, not to mention thunder at sunrise a few days ago... This number is very similar to what it was last year this time, and--lest we be discouraged--vastly better than 2003 or 2002 (when it was down to 23%!!)
Reservoir Information Total % of Capacity at this date
2002 23%
2003 51%
2004 61%
The National Weather Service's Drought Status Report for September 2005 shows our June-August precipitation was only 2.55 inches, 47% of normal. (Latest report always available from the Albuquerque Latest Drought Information page.) The New Mexico Reservoir Storage page doesn't have any data at the moment, but the charts for September (and a lot of other data) are in the New Mexico Drought Monitoring Work Group report. This report says that our rainfall for January--August was just about normal, 9.54 inches.
But it also says,
"ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to continue for the remainder of the year and into 2006. This means confidence in seasonal forecasting is not especially high right now. However, long-range models are suggesting the coming winter is more likely to be on the dry side instead of wet. Limited tools available suggest the coming winter will be significantly drier than the winter of 2004-2005." (emphasis added) Sigh. This explains the persisting-drought graphic for our part of New Mexico on the Seasonal Drought Outlook.
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