Drought — Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona

2022-05-17 to 2022-05-31 · Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona

Event narrative

The extreme drought (D3) category was reached by mid May across Santa Cruz and southern Cochise Zones including the Huachuca, Mule, Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains. Below normal precipitation occurred during the period of October 2021 through May 2022. Sierra Vista registered their 8th driest water year in over 120 years of record keeping with only 2.3 of rainfall through that period. Several human caused wildfires ignited in May and two grew rapidly due to dry fuels, including the Elgin Bridge and San Rafael fires. Soil moisture readings were below normal, ranking below the 30th percentile.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1032335. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.