Heat the Southwest; Fire Weather in the Central U.S.; Kona Low Impacting Hawaii

A rare March heat wave is ongoing with much above-normal temperatures over the Southwest U.S. through this weekend. Periods of critical fire weather will persist from the central Rockies to the central and southern Plains through the weekend as gusty winds and low relative humidity continue. A Kona low will continue to bring several rounds of moderate to heavy rainfall to Hawaii through Sunday. Read More >

Southwestern Mountains

March-April-May Precipitation

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By spring, the effect of El Niño in the southwestern mountains increases, and the average increase of precipitation increased as well, particularly at Luna Ranger Station. In strong El Niño events, increases in precipitation ranged from 132% to 158% of the long term normal. In 1992 was an especially wet spring, particularly in May, and Luna received March-April-May precipitation that is almost four times the long term average.

A description of the graphs is located at the bottom of the page.

spring precip for grants during el nino events

Percent of Longterm Average for all El Niño Events = 112%, for strong El Niño Events = 132%

spring precip for luna during el nino events

Percent of Longterm Average for all El Niño Events = 124% , for strong El Niño Events = 158%

Precipitation values for 3-month periods during 18 El Niño Events since 1949-50 are plotted with respect to the long term precipitation average, listed to the right of the graph. The precipitation totals for each 3-month period are plotted above or below each bar. Years for which the El Niño Event was considered to be strong are colored in drk green. "M" represents a 3-month period with missing data. Finally, the percents of long term normal for all El Niño events and for the strong El Niño events are listed below each graph.

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Heat the Southwest; Fire Weather in the Central U.S.; Kona Low Impacting Hawaii

NWS ABQ - El Nino Spring Precip for CD4