New Mexico heads into new year of severe drought

The first two months of 2014 marked the driest start to any year on record for New Mexico, and forecasters with the National Weather Service said Friday that things haven't improved. Senior meteorologist Chuck Jones told state and federal officials during a monthly drought briefing that New Mexico received less than one-third of its normal snow and rain over the winter, and that the lack of snowpack in the mountains is prompting concerns among water managers. "It's terrible. We're looking at the snowpack levels and they're just blowing away," said Raymond Abeyta with the Bureau of Reclamation. "What has us concerned is the soil moisture levels." The latest drought map shows conditions have worsened in New Mexico over the past three months, with areas covered by severe drought conditions or worse nearly doubling since December. While record rains helped some areas last fall, officials said the Rio Grande Basin didn't fare as well. Advisers with the Rio Grande Compact Commission, which oversees a water-sharing agreement between New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, said Thursday that there was almost no native Rio Grande water in storage above Elephant Butte Reservoir...more