U.S. Drought Monitor
Rainfall to deliver first precipitation in months to parched Southwest
Rain will continue to fall Thursday before the system moves eastward. It appears that parts of Utah and Colorado may receive some snow Saturday night, but areas farther south will stay dry. IT IS RAINING/SNOWING in Albuquerque at 10:47am we also have reports of rain in Catron County New Mexico! PTL!!!!
AccuWeather Global Weather Center – December 10, 2020 – Much of the Southwest is in the grips of an extreme to exceptional drought, but on Wednesday night, some locations received their first rainfall in months.
A disturbance in the atmosphere that helped contribute to Santa Ana winds in Southern California earlier this week began to move into western Arizona Wednesday night. As that occurred, rain fell overnight.
Phoenix recorded 0.01 of an inch of rain before midnight, marking the first time in 110 days that the city had measurable rain. Measurable rain is defined as 0.01 of an inch or more. Therefore, amounts that are a “trace” are not counted. Even though 110 days is a long time, it was only the 15th longest dry streak on record for the city.
Although any rain is beneficial, it will do little to put a significant dent in the drought since amounts will be low, with rainfall expected to total less than half an inch. Not only was this past summer dry, but below normal precipitation has been the theme since last summer as well. This has contributed to the vast amount of wildfires in California and surrounding states.
In addition, lightning was observed Wednesday night in parts of Arizona. Any locations that have lightning and little to no rain will have a risk of new fires being ignited
Other cities in the Southwest have gone even longer without rain. Yuma, Arizona, went 242 days without rain. Just after midnight, that streak was finally snapped with 0.09 of an inch of rain as of 3 a.m. Thursday.
Farther west, rain is not expected to fall.
Bishop, California, has had 237 consecutive days without rain through Wednesday, and that streak will continue to extend.
Las Vegas is also forecast to stay dry, with rain remaining to the east. The city has gone 234 days without rainfall. For perspective, Las Vegas had never gone more than 150 days without measurable rain before the current dry streak, so the record has been broken by almost 100 days.
Rain will continue to fall Thursday before the system moves eastward. It appears that parts of Utah and Colorado may receive some snow Saturday night, but areas farther south will stay dry.
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