{"id":53575,"date":"2020-06-04T00:29:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T06:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/monsoon-outlook-poor-for-parched-san-juan-river-basin\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:05:02","slug":"monsoon-outlook-poor-for-parched-san-juan-river-basin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/monsoon-outlook-poor-for-parched-san-juan-river-basin\/","title":{"rendered":"Monsoon outlook poor for parched San Juan River Basin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The 30-day drought status of the Southwest from May 4 to June 2.<\/span>Courtesy of Royce Fontenot<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 The San Juan River Basin is experiencing lower-than-average rainfall and increased temperatures for this time of year, leading to increased wildfire concerns and predictions of a below-normal monsoon, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, we are experiencing higher temperatures and lower rainfall than average for the river basin,\u201d said Royce Fontenot, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service based in Albuquerque. \u201cEven in a dry time, we\u2019re seeing drier than normal conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last 60 days, temperatures in the Four Corners have ranged from 1 to 4 degrees above normal. A big deviation from average temperatures, said Fontenot, who presented the data at Wednesday\u2019s San Juan Water Commission meeting.<\/p>\n

From April 1 to June 2 the Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington received 0.12 of an inch of rain. Typically, in that time frame the area should have received 1.51 inches of precipitation. The average temperature recorded there has also been 2.5 degrees above normal.<\/p>\n

With higher temperatures, less rainfall and a below-average snowpack, concerns about wildfire in the region are high.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current outlook does indicate above normal significant wildfire risk for the area into June and July,\u201d Fontenot told The Durango Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The San Juan River runs through Navajo land south of Shiprock. Royce Fontenot, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service based in Albuquerque says the San Juan River Basin has experienced higher temperatures and lower rainfall than average for the past 60 days.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said a significant wildfire is classified as being too large for local resources to handle and requires out-of-area support. Fontenot is also a wildfire incident meteorologist.<\/p>\n

Southwest Colorado has not escaped drought concerns either. In early May, it was relisted in the \u201cextreme drought\u201d category on the U.S. Drought Monitor for the first time since the 2018-19 winter. The above-average hot and dry conditions have also led to wildfire concerns<\/a> in the area.<\/p>\n

\"The
The San Juan River runs through Navajo land south of Shiprock. Royce Fontenot, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service based in Albuquerque says the San Juan River Basin has experienced higher temperatures and lower rainfall than average for the past 60 days.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s making what was already not great, worse,\u201d Fontenot said of the high temperatures and low rainfall. \u201cYou\u2019re starting behind a curve, even if we see a good monsoon season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, the monsoon for the river basin area lasts from July 1 to Sept. 30. While early indications point to below-normal rainfall during the season, Fontenot cautioned the monsoon can be hard to predict accurately.<\/p>\n

The rains during that three month period can be crucial to determining the annual rainfall for an area. For example, Bloomfield during an average monsoon can receive 3.5 inches of rain, accounting for more than a third of its annual rainfall of 9.7 inches. And when the average rainfall in October \u2013 typically a wet month in northwest New Mexico \u2013 is factored in, the amount of precipitation in the four-month period accounts for almost half of the area\u2019s annual total.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks in the Four Corners like to think about snowmelt and what\u2019s happening in the mountains but that monsoon moisture is important,\u201d Fontenot said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a farmer and you\u2019re not near the river, you need that moisture.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added the timing and location of the monsoon can also be a key factor, especially for agriculture and farming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the bulk occurs in September, is that really helping you out?\u201d he said. \u201cYou need steady thunderstorms every few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

lweber@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Even in a dry time, we\u2019re seeing drier than normal conditions\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,402,799,28,29,443,294],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-drought","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico","tag-water-supply"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88317,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53575\/revisions\/88317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53575"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}