Corrales Mayor Fred Hashimoto says recent rains are delightful, but that residents should still remember the village is in a drought. “It doesn’t take a meteorologist to tell us that,” he said, citing low winter snowpack and high early-spring temperatures. In his weekly message to the community, Hashimoto wrote that meteorologists say chances are good in the coming months for an el Niño weather pattern with a strong monsoon season, meaning increased precipitation.
The National Weather Service’s monsoon outlook, updated May 21, states “there is moderate to high confidence for near-to-above normal precipitation across all of NM during the 4-month period from June to September.” For alternative scenarios, the weather service quotes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2026 eastern Pacific Hurricane Season outlook, which shows a 70% chance of an above-normal season, a 20% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 10% chance of a below-normal season. Moisture absorbed into the monsoon circulation has the potential to create active burst patterns with widespread precipitation from any remnant tropical systems.
However, Hashimoto wrote, the river in the Middle Rio Grande Valley is drying up. “Although this can happen during the summer months, it has been occurring earlier in the past few years and this year, it is the earliest,” he wrote, echoing frequent statements made by Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District officials this year. Last week in Corrales, MRGCD CEO Jason Casuga said the river is flowing at about 300 cubic feet per second, or about a tenth of historical median flow at the end of May.
“Factors (in) the water balance equation include delivery, use and conservation,” Hashimoto wrote. Often, we as individuals can’t control delivery, but many of us can influence the latter. Common sense recommends that water should be conserved as much as possible. Lawns surely don’t need daily watering … sprinklers should be checked to be sure they’re not watering roads. To be good stewards of water consumption helps us all.”
Also in the Mayor’s Message, Hashimoto noted that the Village Council has banned the sale and use of fireworks in Corrales because of drought conditions. The ban will remain in place for at least the coming month.