"Protecting & enhancing Arizona’s water supplies for current and future generations."
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: MAY 2018
During May, only two weak storm systems passed through the state, dropping very small amounts of rain in northern Arizona.
Southern Arizona remained extremely dry and hot. This led to expansions of Exceptional Drought (D4) into northern Gila and northeastern Maricopa counties and Extreme Drought (D3) into most of Pima County and across northern Coconino County. In addition, Severe Drought (D2) spread into northeastern Cochise County.
There is a growing wildfire danger due to the continued dry and hot conditions, and many parks and forests are closed for recreational activity.
Early signs of the monsoon season are appearing in the southeast corner of Arizona, and thunderstorms may form over Bisbee and Douglas this week. Dry lightning is a possibility until the moisture reaches the state.
At the end of each month, the MTC produces the 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: April 2018
Extremely dry conditions over the past seven months in southwestern Arizona have led to an expansion of Extreme Drought in that region.
Current forecasts by SRP and the Colorado River Basin Forecast Center anticipate record low run-off into the Salt-Verde reservoir system and only 57% of the average runoff into Lake Powell from the upper Colorado watershed as of April 30, 2018. The low inflow into Lake Powell will not affect releases into Lake Mead this year but will likely affect dam operations in future years.
Northern Mohave as well as western and central Coconino counties experienced virtually no snow or rain this winter. The long-term map, however, does not depict this dryness due to lack of monitoring stations at lower elevations.
Spring is typically a dry season for Arizona and current drought conditions will likely persist or worsen heading into the monsoon season.
This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, May 4, 2018. Arizona's long-term drought status map is updated quarterly and the next update in early May will reflect the conditions of January, February and March. 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.