color="#FFFFFF" size="2">Back to Regional News Digest
Saturday, September 19, 1998 Last modified at 3:24 a.m. on Saturday, September 19, 1998
State gets more rain, except in plains
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Slightly higher averages of rain in New Mexico this summer masked big differences in precipitation levels statewide, the National Weather Service said.
The state's June-through-August average was 5 percent wetter than normal. But while summer rains fell on the western and northern parts of the state, the eastern plains were dry, said Charlie Liles, head of the weather service's Albuquerque office.
Liles said you could draw a line south from Clayton and Las Vegas, N.M., through Cloudcroft to see the demarkation: It mostly was dry to the southeast and wet in the northwest. Part of weather systems that steered rain away from Texas did the same to eastern New Mexico.
"The dry east and southeast plains shows the westward expansion of the Texas drought that has taken place the past three to four months," Liles said.ce
Clovisn got 61 percent less rain this summer, he said.
Monsoons caused an unusually wet July across the rest of the state but then stopped in August, said Dave Gutzler, a climate researcher at the University of New Mexico.
Jal, in the southeast, was the driest spot for the three-month period, with just 1.43 inches of rain, 72 percent below normal. The wettest spot was Black Lake near Angel Fire, with 14.53 inches, Liles said.
Albuquerque was two percent below normal with 3.42 inches, while Socorro was nearly 50 percent above normal with 5.6 inches. Santa Fe had 33 percent more rain at 7.15 inches, while Las Cruces was 47 percent below normal at 2.37 inches.