State climatologist warns of persistent drought

The past week aptly describes the past 24 months in Las Cruces, and all of New Mexico for that matter. Hot and dry. State Climatologist Dave DuBois has determined the past 12 and 24 months have been the warmest ever in New Mexico. He has also determined that the first six months of this year has been the 10th driest period on record. And more recently, June was the seventh driest month. Those are based on 117 years of weather data — which goes back to before New Mexico was a state. "We've been the warmest you can get," said DuBois, who has been state climatologist for two years. "And, this isn't just for Las Cruces and southern New Mexico, this is for the whole state." With warmer temperatures have also come drier conditions. From July 2011 through June, an average of 10.48 inches of rain has fallen across New Mexico. That's 3.03 inches less than the state's 20th century average. But in the first six months of this year, an average of only 2.5 inches of rain has been recorded across the state. That is 2.18 inches below average. "It keeps with the fact the state has experienced back to back La Niña climate patterns," DuBois said. "That's meant warmer than average temperatures for the state. But La Niña has (negatively) affected the southern part of the state more than the northern part." To underscore the drier conditions, DuBois told state legislators that almost 24 percent of the state is currently experiencing extreme drought conditions. But it's been worse; DuBois also told legislators that at the same time a year ago, 79 percent of the state was in extreme drought. "We're one step better, but still not very good at all," DuBois said...more