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Fire Weather Conditions in the Northwest U.S.; Heavy Rain in the West and South-central U.S.

Extreme heat is waning over the Pacific Northwest. Dry, gusty winds, and isolated dry thunderstorms will bring critical fire weather to the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West. Heavy rain and thunderstorms continue across portions of the Great Basin, Rockies, and central/southern Plains into the Ozarks. An atmospheric river will bring heavy rain and strong winds to southwest Alaska. Read More >

 Central Valley
December-January-February Precipitation

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In the Rio Grande Valley, DJF precipitation is reduced during La Niña events, with the southern station, Socorro, averaging 65% of the long term average while Albuquerque averages 88% of normal. The impact is greater during strong La Niña events, with below average precipitation during all six events, and only 39% of the average precipitation at Socorro.

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

winter precip for albuquerque during la nina events 
 Percent of Longterm Average for all La Niña Events = 88% , for strong La Niña Events = 71%
 
winter precip for socorro during la nina events 
Percent of Longterm Average for all La Niña Events = 65% , for strong La Niña Events = 36% 
 

Precipitation values for 3-month periods during 19 La Niña 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 La Niña Event was considered to be strong are colored in purple. "M" represents a 3-month period with missing data. Finally, the percents of longterm normal for all La Niña events and for the strong La Niña events are listed below each graph.