Now that the monsoon season has come and gone, its time to look at how the Albuquerque area faired. Were we wetter or drier than normal? And what is normal? And when is the monsoon season? Hopefully, all those questions and more will be answered in this feature.

Though the monsoon start and end dates vary each year, a good approximation of the monsoon season is July 1st through September 15th. This is the wettest time of year for Albuquerque, as well as much of the state of New Mexico, with noted exceptions across the higher terrain. At the Albuquerque Sunport, the normal amount of rainfall between July 1st and September 15th is 3.62 inches. That means nearly 40% of Albuquerque's yearly rainfall is received in those two and a half months.

Unfortunately, because the only official station is at the ABQ Sunport, its hard to interpret how precipitation varies across the metro area, though two cooperative stations help fill in the gaps. But at last we have more data! The state of New Mexico joined the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network in the Spring of 2005 and many people across the Albuquerque area have become a member. These members voluntarily measure rain and snow and report hail when it occurs. These volunteers have given us insight into how precipitation varies across Albuquerque. And it does significantly!

The following maps show the distribution of precipitation across the Albuquerque area between July 1st and September 15th since CoCoRaHS records began. Click on a map for a larger view.

Clearly, 2006 was the wettest with record rains across the Albuquerque area. Within those two and a half months, the ABQ Sunport received 8.08 inches of rainfall. 3.55 inches of that total fell in July, which made it the 3rd wettest July on record, and 3.74 inches of that total fell in August, which tied for the wettest August on record. Records for the ABQ Sunport date back to 1893.

Now for a little comparison. In 2006, the driest spot in Albuquerque received about 6.6 inches of precipitation. This location was wetter than the wettest spot in Albuquerque in both 2005 and 2007 which were near 4.5 and 5.4 inches, respectively. The only areas in 2008 that were wetter than the driest spot in 2006 were near Tijeras. Everywhere else across the Albuquerque Metro area received near or less than 5 inches. These big differences are clearly seen in the maps above.

There is one other piece of information to note from these maps. No matter how wet or dry the year, generally more precipitation falls near the mountains and less precipitation falls on the west side. One explanation for this is thunderstorms typically form along the Sandia and Manzano Mountains before moving into Albuquerque, and many times dissipate before reaching the west side.

Our cooperative observers provide us with the same valuable information that the CoCoRaHS members do, but for across the entire state of New Mexico. Many of our cooperative observers have been volunteering their efforts for 30 years or more. This has allowed us to determine precipitation normals across the state. The maps below show normal precipitation, 2008 precipitation, and the percent of normal for the period of July 1st through August 31st. Click on a map for a larger view.

As shown in the maps above, much of the state received above normal precipitation during the months of July and August. The wettest spot was Cloudcroft which received 17.95 inches of rain, but this was only 178% of normal. The spot with the greatest departure from normal was Tularosa which received 287% of its normal precipitation. The driest areas across the state were found across northwest New Mexico. Fruitland only received 0.9 inches of rain which is about 51% of its normal precipitation. In the Albuquerque area, locales generally received between 125 and 175 percent of normal precipitation, except in the Albuquerque Foothills, where only 81% of normal precipitation was observed.