NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Parts of New Mexico are seeing some wet conditions with lakes, rivers, and streams reaping the benefits.
“We had some really impressive snow numbers. 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,” said Andrew Mangham with the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service and Bureau of Reclamation shared new numbers on Tuesday at their Rio Grande Annual Public Meeting. They said snowmelt is collecting in New Mexico’s water supply at record levels.
While Eastern New Mexico did not benefit from the precipitation, 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. Those in the northwestern parts of the state are reaping the benefits as well.
“Water level-wise we are about 60 percent full capacity. 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,” said Superintendent at Navajo Lake State Park, Caleb Bellah.
Bellah said the lake has over 1 million acres of water, levels they have not seen in 5 years. He added they expect an influx of visitors this summer and are preparing for that.
In the presentation, officials mentioned the importance of the wet soil conditions the state is seeing this year. They said the last monsoon season is to thank. According to the National Weather Service, most of the Rio Grande is showing no drought conditions.
The weather service said Elephant Butte also reached historic numbers. The weather service compared the water supply to 30 years of precipitation.
