Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Water Year

The water year, which runs from October 1 to September 30, just rainfall chartended. We can't help but know that we had an extraordinarily wet summer. But how are we doing really, and what can we expect?

The Southwest Climate Outlook for September came out on September 27th. It shows that except for the flooded bits in the southern part of the state, we ended the year with moderately below average precipitation.

The summary page says: "Experts predict increased chances of warmer-than-average temperatures and above-average precipitation for most of the Southwest during the upcoming winter... El Niño conditions have developed and are expected to continue into early 2007... The Bottom Line – Some drought relief has occurred due to the abundant rain since the start of the monsoon season, but that relief may be limited to short-term impacts due to the accumulated effects of long-term, multi-year precipitation deficits."

Storage in the state's reservoirs is still quite low in parts of the state. Our own reservoir is at 90% of capacity, a delightfully large number.

Valle Grande Trail, Jemez Mountains, September 30
Aspens on the Valle Grande Trail, Jemez Mountains, September 30, 2006. One of those "This must be the most beautiful day of the year" days.

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