KSJD Local Newscast - January 9, 2025

Precipitation in Cortez in December was “horrendous.” That’s how longtime local weather observer James Andrus describes the 6-100ths of an inch of moisture that fell from the sky last month. That amounted to just 7 percent of the average for December. It followed a November when 55 percent of the average precipitation came down in Cortez. Andrus tells KSJD that this pattern of extreme dry weather matches the classic La Niña pattern. That occurs when there are cooler-than-average surface temperatures in the east-central Pacific Ocean near the equator. The National Weather Service says La Niña conditions are present now and are likely to continue through April. La Niña typically means more moisture in the northwestern United States but less in the Southwest. SNOTEL reports for the San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan Basin watershed show that snow-water equivalents there were at 85 percent of normal as of Jan. 2. The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration reports that most SNOTEL stations in southwestern Utah have less than half their normal equivalent, while all the SNOTELs in Arizona and New Mexico report equivalents well below normal. Andrus says in his 27 years of keeping weather records in Cortez, he has seen winters with snowfall ranging from a high of 74.8 inches to a low of 8 inches. But this winter could set a new minimum record.