2025-26 Water Year Precipitation vs. the Average (Early Jan 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.

Precipitation started off in the new water year a little below average during Oct, with a little more rainfall on the southside than at my northside location. In Nov, after a dry first half of the month, there was enough precipitation in the last 2 weeks to keep the totals right around average.

December though ended up on the dry side, with totals around a third of inch below average at the start of the new year.

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