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: april 2020
A strong winter storm during the last week of March and a weak low-pressure system in early April brought enough rain and snow across northern Arizona to improve drought conditions in northern Coconino, Navajo and Apache counties.
Severe Drought (D2) in northern and central Apache County was improved to Moderate Drought (D1) and Moderate Drought in the Chuska Mountains area was improved to Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions. Areas of the state with no drought conditions increased from 77% to 81%.
As Arizona heads into its typically dry period, warmer than normal conditions are projected prior to the onset of the monsoon storms around the end of June or beginning of July.
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: january - march 2020
Arizona’s long-term drought conditions have improved across most of the state due to several storms that dropped significant precipitation in central and southwestern Arizona as well as Mohave County.
The northeast part of the State did not benefit much from these storm events and the Severe (D2) and Extreme Drought (D3) conditions caused by the long-term precipitation deficits persist.
Small amounts of rain are typical between April and June in Arizona, and long-range climate models do not project any changes.
This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, April 9, 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.