Tropical Storm Ivo stalled off the coast of the Baja Peninsula over the weekend, bringing some \u201cnice local relief\u201d in the form of rain to Cortez.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe storm brought a bunch of needed rain across the Southwest, and it did us a lot of good,\u201d said cooperative weather observer Jim Andrus.<\/p>\n
According to Andrus, Ivo dumped nearly two inches of rain in Cortez from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday. He recorded a total of 1.95 inches over the two-day period, including 1.76 inches of rainfall on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was flooding in Arizona, California, Utah and Colorado,\u201d Andrus said, \u201cand the forecasts calls for the potential of more rain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Situated over the Pacific Ocean, Ivo has been downgraded to a tropical depression, but it remained stalled off the coast of Mexico as of press time.<\/p>\n
The weekend storm bumped Cortez\u2019s monthly rainfall amount to 2.64 inches. Normal August rainfall in the area is 1.37 inches.<\/p>\n
Despite the recent precipitation, annual rainfall remains below average. To date, the area has received 7.59 inches of moisture during 2013. Normal rainfall for the year is 8.27 inches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe weekend\u2019s storm was just a single event,\u201d Andrus said. \u201cThe drought is still here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrus said drought conditions would persist until water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell return to normal. Both reservoirs remain well below normal levels.<\/p>\n
A National Weather Service cooperative weather observer for Cortez for the past 16 years, Andrus said Montezuma County has been experiencing a drought since 1997. While the drought has not been consistent, including three years of above-normal precipitation and two years of near-normal precipitation, Andrus said two-thirds of the past 15 years have experienced below normal levels of precipitation.<\/p>\n