National Weather Service: Dryness defined 2020 in Southwest

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — National Weather Service forecasters say they’re still looking at the data for 2020 but that it’s clear that there was record or near-record dryness in much of the Southwest last year.

In Arizona, the weather service said Jan. 2 that Flagstaff had only 9.59 inches of rain in 2020, compared with the normal amount of 21.86 inches Flagstaff’s previous record low of 9.90 inches in 1942.

In New Mexico, the weather service office in Albuquerque reported that the statewide average precipitation through November was only 5.22 inches. That was 8.03 inches below normal and put the state on track to make 2020 the fourth driest year on record.