DROUGHT INDICATORS - August 17 1999

Summer precipitation has been normal to above normal  nearly everywhere except the southeast. The eastern portion of  division 7 has been dry for the past month, but is still reaping the benefits of a wet spring and early summer. Following is the current assessment of the Palmer Drought Severity  Index:

Palmer Index related to drought status:

Climate Division Weekly PDSI (8/14/99) July June Status
1 +1.9 -1.7 -2.3 Alert
2 +4. +2.2 +1.4 Normal
3 +3.7 +3.5 +3.4 Normal
4 +2.7 +0.7 -2.3 Normal
5 +3.3 +1.1 -1.0 Normal
6 +2.0 +0.7 -0.6 Normal
7 +0.2 +1.2 +0.9 Normal
8 +1.1 -0.7 -2.5 Warning

Comments

Strictly by the drought monitoring group definitions, divisions 1 and 8 are still in some stage of drought. However, the monitoring group believes the 1999 summer rains have alleviated problems. On August 7, the PDSI in division one went positive for the first time since March 6. On July 24, the PDSI in division 8 went positive for the first   time since January 30. In this case, we believe the weekly PDSI is  more accurately reflecting the situation. Projections of the PDSI  suggest the August PDSI will more accurately reflect the improved  status of divisions 1 and 8. The most recent 6-month SPI shows only division 8 in a dry status as  of the end of July. Based on all the information available, the monitoring group  determined that no climate divisions in New Mexico are presently in  significant drought. For this reason, the monitoring group will  discontinue monthly monitoring, and resume quarterly monitoring until further notice. The next meeting of the drought monitoring group will be during the first half of November.