Arizona Drought Status

Despite an active monsoon system during the second week in September, record-high temperatures in the past month and sporadic rain have led to the expansion and intensification of drought conditions across Arizona, according to the September 13 update of the U.S. Drought Monitor (Figure 4a). Currently the entire state is characterized by abnormally dry conditions or a more severe drought category. About 25 percent of the state is experiencing moderate and severe drought conditions, 17 percent is blanketed in extreme drought, and about 2 percent falls into the exceptional drought category (Figure 4b). Extreme and exceptional droughts are defined as droughts that occur, on average, once in every 20 and 50 years, respectively. In the last month, extreme drought expanded by about 8 percent, while exceptional drought decreased by less than a half percent. Since the monsoon began on June 15 drought in Arizona has expanded and intensified in all regions except the southeast corner, where monsoon storms have been most vigorous.

Some of the negative impacts associated with drought and reported on Arizona DroughtWatch (http://azdroughtwatch.org) include poor range conditions, unusually low flow in streams and springs, and increased wildfire danger.