Drought Status
Drought Status
Drought Status
The Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee confers weekly to advise the U.S. Drought Monitor authors on the current drought conditions in Arizona, and makes recommendations about the position of the drought boundaries for Arizona. The U.S. Drought Monitor is the official record of drought for Federal drought relief claims. Information used by the MTC in advising the Drought Monitor authors includes numerous drought indices, precipitation and stream flow data, and impacts data. Every Thursday, the Drought Status web page automatically updates with the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map of Arizona.
Monthly Drought Status Summary: September 2020
A combination of less than 50% of average precipitation and record setting high temperatures across Arizona resulted in a significant expansion of short-term drought conditions.
Some rainfall was received along the southern border, particularly in Cochise and Santa Cruz counties. However, total rainfall was generally less than an inch across the state with Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Tucson all reporting zero inches.
The entire state is in Moderate (D1) or worse drought. Currently, 67% of the state is in Extreme Drought (D3), compared to 42% at the beginning of September, and 3% is in Exceptional Drought (D4) compared to 0% last month.
The monsoon season ended with the hottest and driest summer since 1896. After starting off with a relatively wet winter, Water Year 2020 ended with unfavorable conditions.
At the end of each month, the MTC produces the web-based, short-term drought status update based on U.S. Drought Monitor's maps for the past four weeks. An email with the latest map and summary is sent to interested parties.
Quarterly Drought Status Update: July - September 2020
The driest and hottest summer on record has resulted in degradation of long-term drought conditions across the state and the introduction of Exceptional Drought (D4) in Coconino, Apache, and Greenlee counties.
The summer is not typically a major contributor to statewide water resources, however, the extreme heat and dry conditions this season led to increased evaporation from water bodies and the soil. This led to a reduction in water supply and significant increase in the need for irrigation within the agricultural community.
The water year started quite wet but ended with less than 70% of average precipitation across northern and eastern Arizona.
As La Niña continues to develop over the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, climate model trends point towards a drier than average fall and winter.
This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, October 8, 2020. Arizona's long-term drought status map is updated quarterly and the next update in early July will reflect the conditions of April, May and June. The long-term drought status for each watershed is determined by comparing the precipitation and streamflow percentiles for the past 24, 36 and 48 months to a 40-year historical record.