After Weeks of Flooding, a Calmer Stretch Is Ahead for the Southwest

Relief is finally coming to the Southwest. After days of heavy rain and the associated flooding, a drier weather pattern is going to set up over the southwestern U.S. as the storm track lifts to the north. While the change in the weather is good news for the flood-weary Southwest, the Northwest will now be under the gun for severe impacts.

Southwest and Four Corners Ready to Dry Out

It has been a rough few weeks for residents of the Desert Southwest and the Four Corners regions. Repeated rounds of heavy rain have triggered multiple flash flooding events since the end of September. A parade of slow-moving storms has combined with fresh waves of tropical moisture from the Pacific to fuel the heavy rain.

Last weekend's atmospheric river sent water levels in rivers and streams to historic highs. The hardest-hit areas of Southern California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas picked up two to 10 times the historical average of rain in a period from late September through the first few days of November.

For example, Clovis, New Mexico, has recorded 28.48 inches of rain over the last six weeks. For context, the 30-year average for this community over the same period is 3.30 inches. This total also exceeds Clovis' average rainfall by over 8 inches, speaking to the magnitude of this moisture.

After months of record-breaking tropical storms and hurricanes, the activity in the Eastern Pacific is starting to ease as the season winds down. The diminishing tropical activity will naturally result in a drier weather pattern for the Southwest through the middle of November. While it will mostly be dry for the Southwest, forecasters are predicting that a weak storm could skirt past the southern edge of New Mexico before entering Texas over the weekend.