NWS talks monsoon rain and impact on New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico has seen quite a bit of rain over the last several weeks. So far, it’s having a double-edged effect.

“We got a really tremendous amount of rain over that two weeks, and some parts of the state saw almost half their annual rainfall,” said Andrew Mangham, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. 

Albuquerque saw about a quarter of their annual rainfall in that two-week period alone. 

“There are good and bad effects,” Mangham said. “The good is we are seeing improvements in the drought conditions, we are seeing improvements in the river. You know, some people are asking me if we are out of the drought. No, we are not out of the drought. It’s going to take a lot more then this to get us out of the drought, but I will tell you this, this helps… a lot.”

Improvements to the state’s rivers and lakes are good, but there’s still some bad news. 

“But right now there is a lot of ash heading into the water, and it is effecting water quality and there is some big concerns about that in Las Vegas,” Mangham said. “They need to protect their water supply. The water supply is dominated by Gallinas creek, and the creek is in some hard hit areas. So they are really concerned about PH levels, about ash, about drinkable water. And so, that’s something that is going to be something that just has to play out.”

There’s still a few months left of the monsoon season.

“I’d say expect scattered, hard-hitting thunderstorms for the rest of the summer in various locations around the area. If you live near a burn scar, keep an eye on that, keep up with alerts, and keep an eye on sirens and be ready to move if you need to,” Mangham said.