A wet September has put Cortez ahead of normal for the year
The town went from 77% of its normal precipitation at the end of August to 119% a month later, a local weather observer says.
One month of rain has flipped Cortez’s precipitation for 2026 from well below normal to well above it, KSJD reported Monday.
Graphic: Cortez Current. Source: KSJD
James Andrus, a cooperative weather observer in Cortez, told the station that the town stood at 77% of its normal year-to-date precipitation at the end of August and at 119% by the end of September. The 4.96 inches he measured during September came to 335% of the historic average for the month.
Andrus said a further half-inch fell on September 30 but is officially recorded with October’s totals. Counting it, he put the whole monsoon episode at almost 5.5 inches — about 46% of Cortez’s average annual rainfall of 11.79 inches, or close to half a year’s precipitation in a single month. He suggested in an email to the station that the month be renamed “Soaktember.”
The Cortez Current reported on October 2 that the same rainfall had moved the town’s drought rating from extreme to severe. Cooperative observers are volunteers who take daily temperature and precipitation readings for the National Weather Service.
KSJD’s report is at ksjd.org.