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: DECEMBER 2021
Several frontal systems swept across Arizona in December, bringing above-average precipitation to many locations in northern and central Arizona. Maricopa, Gila, and Yavapai counties experienced over 150% of average precipitation. Pima and southeastern Greenlee counties received 50-90% of average December precipitation. Santa Cruz and Cochise counties received less than 50% of average December precipitation, as did portions of southeastern Coconino and south-central Navajo counties.
Most of the state (74%) remains Abnormally Dry (D0 44%) or in Moderate Drought (D1 30%). Severe (D2) drought covers 21% of the state, while Extreme drought (D3) covers 5% of the state, largely in northeastern Coconino, north and central Navajo, and northwestern Apache counties. This is a drastic improvement from one year ago, where most of the state (73%) was in Exceptional (D4) drought.
This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee on January 11, 2022. Arizona's short-term drought status map is updated during the first week of each month.
Quarterly Drought Status Update: OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2021
Long-term drought saw little improvement since the start of Water Year 2022. Since October, much of the state received near to slightly above-normal amounts of precipitation, while southeastern locations received below-average amounts of precipitation. Temperatures across the state were warmer than normal October through December, which affected evapotranspiration rates and ultimately, long-term drought conditions.
Small improvements from Extreme (D3) to Severe (D2) long-term drought occurred in northeastern Mohave and western Apache counties, while slight expansion of Extreme (D3) long-term drought occurred in eastern Pima, Santa Cruz, and Cochise counties. Exceptional (D4) long-term drought remained in central Mohave, eastern Coconino, western and central Navajo, and eastern Apache counties, although there was some improvement in these locations to Extreme (D3) long-term drought. Exceptional (D4) long-term drought slightly expanded in Greenlee and Graham counties. Weak to moderate La Niña will persist through the remainder of the winter before trending towards neutral later in the spring. As a result, the greatest odds are for drier than average conditions in Arizona through the spring.
This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, January 11, 2022. Arizona's long-term drought status map is updated quarterly and the next update in early April, it 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, 48 and 60 months to a 40-year historical record.