NWS ABQ El Nino Spring Precip for CD5

Central Valley

March-April-May Precipitation

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Statistics for stations In the Rio Grande Valley, particularly Albuquerque, exhibit a fair amount of variability during El Niño events. The average precipitation increase during strong events was 124% at Albuquerque and 125% at Socorro with higher than the average departure for all events. Additionally, during three of seven strong events, spring precipitation was above normal. Note that Socorro is usually quite dry during the March-April-May period (average precipitation = 1.46 inches), typical of the lower Rio Grande Valley and southwest New Mexico, and just one wet El Niño event can raise the average to above normal.

A description of the graphs is located at the bottom of the page.

spring precip for albuquerque during el nino events

Percent of Longterm Average for all El Niño Events = 123% , for strong El Niño Events = 124%

spring precip for socorro during el nino events

Percent of Longterm Average for all El Niño Events = 103% , for strong El Niño Events = 125%

Precipitation values for 3-month periods during 18 El Niño Events since 1949-50 are plotted with respect to the long term precipitation average, listed to the right of the graph. The precipitation totals for each 3-month period are plotted above or below each bar. Years for which the El Niño Event was considered to be strong are colored in dark green. "M" represents a 3-month period with missing data. Finally, the percents of long term normal for all El Niño events and for the strong El Niño events are listed below each graph.