Most of Greater Downtown (Albuquerque) sits below the level of the Rio Grande, like a sort of high-desert New Orleans. Any rain that falls between the river’s east-bank levee and roughly Broadway will stay in the area until it evaporates, gets absorbed into the ground, or is otherwise dealt with. – Downtown Albuquerque News DAN …
From the agenda packet for this afternoon’s (May 12, 2025) meeting of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board. (They do one of these every month, I always find them interesting, and I always forget to post them.) 26.5 miles are currently dry in the lower stretch of New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande, in the …
A week of rain (I exaggerate, six days) has lifted our spirits after one of the driest starts to a calendar year on record in Albuquerque. The river was muddy yesterday on the family Wednesday lunch outing, and the cottonwoods looked so happy. The wild roses were blooming, we stuck our noses in them to …
The cycling trick in our linear north-south Rio Grande Valley is to match the Rail Runner with the wind. The best rides (where by “best” I mean “my favorite”) are in the valley, along the river and the ditchbanks that make up our ribbons of green. A wind out of the north calls for a …
Via Laura Paskus: The Middle Rio Grande began drying on April 15, and on Monday more than 18 miles were dry south of Albuquerque. We should expect poor conditions to expand in the coming weeks and months — and plan accordingly. Historically, the Rio Grande experienced snowmelt-driven spring pulses, which spurred fish like the endangered …
Continue reading ‘Rio Grande drying in central New Mexico’ »
It’s red sidewalk crack poppy season in Albuquerque. It’s a weird ecological niche, but Papaver rhoeas, the common corn poppy (it has a bunch of other names) seems to have mastered the sidewalk cracks in my neighborhood. Sciency people call it an archeophyte, a species that arose in its modern form in an evolutionary dance with humans. …
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Crews monitoring New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande reported yesterday (April 14, 2025) that the river’s still flowing past the San Marcial railroad bridge. Just downstream of the bridge, the USGS gage dropped to zero flow yesterday morning. We’re at the pivotal moment when the fact that you have to go out and look, and finding …
Continue reading ‘New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande: Not Dry Yet!’ »
My Utton Center colleague Rin Tara and I spent the day out in the field yesterday, a visit to River Mile 60 at the bottom end of New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande. (Disclosure: We took bikes, but “out in the field” sounds fancier than “on a bike ride.”) The trip was fodder for a piece …
Continue reading ‘New Mexico’s incredible shrinking Rio Grande’ »
We are heading into a remarkable year on New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande. Here are some critical factors: The preliminary April 1 forecast from the NRCS is for 27 percent of median April – July runoff at Otowi, the key measurement gage for New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande. Current reservoir storage above us is basically …
Continue reading ‘Dancing with Deadpool on New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande’ »
My Utton Center pal Rin Tara and I are excited to launch “Water Matters,” our new podcast. Our first guest is Diane Agnew from the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, who is charming and also breaks some news. Find it here, or, as they say on podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.