Last year’s monsoon season combined with heavy snowmelt has led to record levels of New Mexico’s water supply.
“We had some really impressive snow numbers,” Andrew Mangham of the National Weather Service told KRQE “The main point of this is just that we had a wet monsoon last year, and now, we’ve had a really wet winter this year. That’s really set us up well.”
The eastern part of the state did not receive the amount of precipitation the rest of the state did. But officials said the western two-thirds of the state is above average in water supply, while the southwest part of the state is seeing high numbers into the 45-50% range. The northwest part of the state is also above its average water supply.
“Water level-wise we are about 60 percent full capacity,” Navajo Lake State Park superintendent Caleb Bellah told KRQE. “We are coming out about a foot and a half every day. There are projections that we will get close to the upper 90 percentile towards mid-summer. It’s looking good.”
Bellah said the Navajo Lake has more than one million acres of water at levels not seen in five years. Officials are expecting and preparing for a busy summer as visitors take advantage of the favorable conditions.
Many lakes, rivers, and streams are also at high levels due to the massive snowmelt. The weather service compared the water supply to 30 years of precipitation. According to the National Weather Service, most of the Rio Grande is no longer under drought conditions, and Elephant Butte also reached historic numbers.
The National Weather Service (NWS), according to its website, provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas. These warnings help protect life, property, and the enhancement of the national economy.