River Dry Through Other Stretches
But the snowpack in the Upper Rio Grande River Basin was below average this year. Combined with the West’s ongoing drought and stresses on the river from overuse, the Rio Grande, which runs nearly 1,900 miles (3,060 kilometers) through the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, is showing serious signs of stress. In July, the river ran totally dry through a stretch of Albuquerque—the first time that has happened in decades. Elephant Butte has been at below-average levels since 2019.
