Slight recovery nationwide in drought-affected territory; San Miguel de Allende moves to extreme drought

Published May 22, 2021 (sp)

In the first half of May 2021, the rainy season got off to a good start. The national territory went from 85% suffering from drought to 75%. San Miguel de Allende advanced during the last month from severe drought to extreme drought. The last time a similar situation was recorded was in 2012.

The rains during the first two weeks of May were distributed over the northeast, east, center, south and southeast of the country, and were mainly associated with the passage of the fourteenth winter storm, cold fronts 54, 55 and 56 (of the 2020-2021 season), as well as the development of trough lines and the development of tropical storm Andres (the earliest named storm recorded in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean since 1949).

This precipitation helped to reduce areas of moderate drought reduction of areas with moderate drought (D1) in Coahuila, Tamaulipas, State of Mexico, Mexico City, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz and Oaxaca. While severe to extreme drought (D2 to D3) decreased slightly in Nuevo León, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, northern Michoacán and Guerrero.

The regions where drought conditions increased, due to little or no precipitation, were the Baja California Peninsula, Sonora, Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, Mexico City, and Mexico City.
Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Colima and Quintana Roo. In these states, with the exception of Quintana Roo, the areas with severe or extreme drought (D2 or D3) increased.

As of May 15, 2021, the percentage of area with moderate to exceptional drought (D1 to D4) at the national level was 75.63 %, slightly higher (0.36 %) than that quantified as of April 30 of the same year.

In Guanajuato, 3.5 % of the territory suffers from moderate drought, 73 % of the territory is in moderate drought and 23.5 % in extreme drought showing a dominant impact of long period, typically longer than 6 months of duration.

In spite of the last rains, in which precipitation exceeded 20 mm³, half of the territory of San Miguel de Allende is in moderate drought and the southern part (zone of the Allende “Begoña” Dam) reports extreme drought.