Text Products for DGT Issued by TWC

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS Tucson, AZ
Versions: 1
000
AXUS75 KTWC 111651
DGTTWC
AZC003-009-011-019-021-023-202300-

Drought Information Statement
National Weather Service Tucson AZ
950 AM MST Sat Sep 11 2021

...Monsoon rains continued to improve drought conditions in
southeast Arizona...

.SYNOPSIS:

Drought intensity and extent: According to the latest U.S. Drought
Monitor, abnormally dry (D0) or moderate drought (D1) conditions
were now present over most of southeast Arizona with severe drought
(D2) conditions near the New Mexico state line. Extreme drought (D3)
and exceptional drought (D4) conditions were no longer present.

Precipitation:

Significant monsoon rains occurred this summer, especially from
Tucson west and south where 2021 will rank among the top 10 wettest
summers on record at some stations. Even with a wet summer 12 month
precipitation deficits still remain across much of southeast
Arizona.

Rainfall totals below are for Summer 2021 (June-July-August)

Station               Total  +/- Normal  Ranking        Period
Tucson Intl Airport  12.08"   + 7.66"     2nd wettest  1895-2021
Nogales Airport      10.98"   + 2.95"     2nd wettest  1999-2021
Sierra Vista          9.36"   + 1.98"    22nd wettest  1900-2021
Willcox               5.94"   + 0.39"    42nd wettest  1898-2021
Safford Airport       4.75"   + 1.90"     3rd wettest  1998-2021
Picacho Peak         10.15"   + 6.83"    Wettest       1988-2021
San Manuel            7.90"   + 2.40"    13th wettest  1954-2021
Ajo                   6.47"   + 4.33"     6th wettest  1914-2021

12 month rainfall totals below ending August 31, 2021

Station              Total   +/- Normal  Ranking        Period
Tucson Intl Airport  13.52"   + 2.91"    31st wettest  1895-2021
Nogales Airport      12.57"   - 2.05"     6th driest   1999-2021
Sierra Vista         11.21"   - 1.80"     8th driest   1900-2021
Willcox               7.90"   - 4.50"    11th driest   1898-2021
Safford Airport       6.73"   - 1.25"    11th driest   1998-2021
Picacho Peak         12.26"   + 2.31"    10th wettest  1988-2021
San Manuel           10.47"   - 2.14"    18th driest   1954-2021
Ajo                   8.04"   + 1.06"    53rd wettest  1914-2021

*NOTE* Normal departure is based on the new 1991-2020 normal period.

Temperature: Summer was warmer than normal for most of southeast
Arizona. The exceptions were portions of southeast Pinal county,
eastern Pima county and northern Cochise county.

Hydrologic conditions: The wet July and August caused river channels
to become saturated. Rivers and streams will continue to respond
quickly to rainfall with intermittent flow.

.SUMMARY OF IMPACTS:

Hydrologic impacts: San Carlos Reservoir has increased another 15
feet since August 6, but storage capacity has only risen to 4
percent.

.LOCAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK: The Climate Prediction Center`s (CPC)
outlook for September as a whole calls for enhanced probabilities of
above normal rainfall, but the CPC 8-14 day outlook calls for below
normal rainfall. Some locations have already received significant
rainfall during the first week of September.

The CPC outlook for September through November calls for enhanced
probabilities of above normal temperatures and below normal
precipitation. Thus, drought conditions are unlikely to show much in
the way of additional improvement this fall, and in fact could
deteriorate again given the drier than normal outlook.

.NEXT ISSUANCE DATE:

This will be the last issuance of this product until extreme drought
(D3) or exceptional drought (D4) conditions return to southeast
Arizona.

.RELATED WEB SITES:

Drought Conditions:
U.S. Drought Monitor: droughtmonitor.unl.edu
U.S. Drought Information System: drought.gov
NOAA Drought Page: cpc.nc0ep.noaa.gov/products/Drought
NWS Precipitation Analysis Page: water.weather.gov/precip
Climate Prediction Center: www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
Western Region Climate Center: wrcc.dri.edu
Arizona Department of Water Resources:
new.azwater.gov/drought/drought-status


Thanks to the recent rainfall, July temperatures
trended normal to below normal for most of southeast Arizona,
although the dry start to August in many locations coincided with a
period of hotter temperatures.

Arizona State Climatologist: azclimate.asu.edu
NWS Tucson: weather.gov/tucson
Fire Restrictions: wildlandfire.az.gov/fire-restrictions

River Information:
NWS: water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=twc and cbrfc.noaa.gov
USGS: waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/rt

.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Data for this statement was compiled from a number of different
federal, state and local agencies. The drought monitor is a multi-
agency effort involving the NOAA National Weather Service and
National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the USDA,
state and regional climate center climatologists and the National
Drought Mitigation Center.

.CONTACT INFORMATION:

If you have any questions or comments about this Drought Information
Statement, please contact

National Weather Service
540 North Park Avenue, Suite 304
Tucson, Arizona 85719
Phone: 520-670-6526
Email: w-twc.webmaster@noaa.gov

$$

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