2023-24 Water Year Precipitation vs. the Average (Final update)

Here is a graphic showing the amount of precipitation that has fallen so far this water year, which started on Oct 1. The water year (Oct 1 – Sep 30) is used by hydrologists and meteorologists as it more accurately reflects the accumulation of precipitation during the winter for use during the growing season.

The current running total of precipitation here on the north side of Taos is shown by the green line below. The red line is the best guess estimated precipitation for the south side of Taos. The black line shows the average amount of precipitation based on 120 years of data. Inches of rain is the vertical axis, while the days and months of the year are on the horizontal axis.

Total precipitation at my northside location for the water year was 13.93 inches, about 1.27 inches above the long term average of 12.66 inches. On the southside, less precipitation fell (around 12.25″), which ended up being a little below average.

After a dry start from October 1 of 2023 to about the middle of November, the north side of Taos has had a rather steady amount of above average precipitation through the winter months. On the south side, precipitation amounts also increased in the winter, but that part of town missed out on some significant precipitation events in the last part of March and also in the middle of May. However a big downpour occurred on June 20th just over the central and southern parts of the valley, and so amounts all across the valley were above average starting off July.

However, very little rain fell over the central and southern parts of the valley during July, and so overall totals for that part of the region fell below average by the end of the month. Northern areas were still a little above average though.

Above average rain fell during August, especially in the last half of the month. Amounts on the north side are still above the long term water year average, while the south side remains a little bit below average.

In September, a good widespread rain of around an inch occurred in the middle of the month, but it was still not quite enough rain to bring the southern side of the valley up to average.

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