This weather phenomenon \u2013 driven by a quick increase in temperatures and a lack of precipitation resulting in bone-dry soil \u2013 is called a flash drought. It has affected pockets across the country in recent weeks, from the Midwest to northern California.<\/p>\n
In New Mexico, the flash drought is ending as quickly as it began because of the recent arrival of rain.<\/p>\n
Here are some things to know about the phenomenon:<\/p>\n
With a snap of his fingers, National Weather Service hydrologist Royce Fontenot explained the speed at which flash droughts can develop and then disappear.<\/p>\n
New Mexico broke dozens of high temperature records in March, with some weather stations recording highs nearly 10 degrees above normal. Communities on the state\u2019s eastern edge approached 90 degrees, while some parts of the arid state had no rain for a full month.<\/p>\n
That left a swath of New Mexico\u2019s eastern plains and parts of the Rio Grande Valley in central and southern New Mexico with no moisture in the soil\u2019s top lawyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings went dry and went dry very fast,\u201d Fontenot said.<\/p>\n
Flash droughts typically aren\u2019t severe, but Fontenot said the level of damage that ensues depends on when the phenomenon strikes.<\/p>\n
Winds whipped the soil in southern New Mexico and Arizona into dust storms in March, making visibility so bad that transportation officials repeatedly closed sections of Interstate 10 between the two states.<\/p>\n
In northcentral New Mexico, all the dust prompted health officials to warn people with asthma or respiratory illnesses to stay inside.<\/p>\n
The dry, windy conditions also fueled devastating wildfires in the Texas Panhandle, charring hundreds of square miles and killing four people.<\/p>\n
Rain finally helped firefighters contain the remaining flames. Ranchers face millions of dollars in damages.<\/p>\n
The warm weather prompted faster-than-normal snowmelt atop New Mexico mountains that supply key drinking water supplies and irrigation resources for farmers.<\/p>\n
Irrigation season is just starting to ramp up, with water being funneled through extensive networks of canals, but farmers who are starting to plant crops are relying on groundwater pumping and Mother Nature for moisture.<\/p>\n
With New Mexico\u2019s snowpack below average for this time of year because of the warmer temperatures, farmers and cities are worried that reservoirs won\u2019t be replenished by spring runoff.<\/p>\n
Forecasters say the snowpack in southern Colorado \u2013 which feeds the Rio Grande and supplies many in New Mexico \u2013 is in good shape.<\/p>\n
Some parts of New Mexico were hit with rain several days ago, with up to a quarter inch reported in some areas.<\/p>\n
That will replenish some soil moisture, but forecasters say longer-term drought is likely to develop through June along New Mexico\u2019s border with Texas and deeper into the Texas Panhandle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also expected to persist in southwestern Arizona and in parts of southern California as well as parts of Colorado and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
Heavy or at least average summer rains are needed to reduce the drought threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you have a debt and need more water, it\u2019s hard to catch up,\u201d Fontenot said. \u201cCertainly, the longer problem will be if we continue this sort of precipitation regime.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
weather phenomenon \u2013 driven by a quick increase in temperatures and a lack of precipitation resulting in bone-dry soil \u2013 is called a flash drought. It has affected pockets across the country in recent weeks, from the Midwest to northern California. In New Mexico, the flash drought is ending as quickly as it began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-70571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70571","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=70571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70571"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=70571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}