Rain making a dent in drought

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - August has been a great month for moisture, especially in the metro area.

Weather officials say all of the rain the area has been getting is definitely helping our drought situation, but is it enough?  The answer is no.

New Mexico is moving out of the La Nina weather pattern and into a wetter El Nino one.

In the last week the state has seen severe floods, buckets of rain, menacing hail and even a funnel cloud hovering just east of the Sandias.  Experts say it will take a lot more to did the state out of the severe drought.

"We've seen some fairly decent rainfall in and around town," said National Weather Service Hydrologist Ed Polasko, "but not enough anywhere. We're still behind where we should be."

So far this month, Albuquerque has seen more than an inch and a half of rain . That's a half an inch more than last August. Statistics show it's about average for the area, but remember the month isn't over yet.

Albuquerque did even better in July too, last month the metro saw almost an inch of rain compared to 2011 when it got less than half an inch.

Officials say the next two weeks will be the "make or break" for precipitation totals.

"Keep  your fingers crossed," said Polasko. "We could do fairly well in the next week or two, and after that things start fading away. We're kind of need to make some really good progress in the short term otherwise the game's over."

That's because the state has had too many dry springs and failed monsoons. It would take at least two years of above average rainfall to recover from the current drought, but there is hope.

"We are not in La Nina which we were in for the two previous winter seasons, so we are definitely moving into what we think is going to be a sustained, if not weak El Nino event," said Kerry Jones with the National Weather Service.

He explained El Nino would mean more moisture for the state and the chance to recover even more from the recent drought.

Drought conditions across most of New Mexico have dropped from extreme to severe. The moisture has also significantly decreased the fire danger.