Drought — Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys, Arizona

2025-02-04 to 2025-02-28 · Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys, Arizona

Event narrative

The extreme (D3) drought category was introduced to northeastern sections of southeast Arizona during beginning of February. The drought area began with portions of southern Greenlee and southeast Graham counties. For the month of February, Greenlee County ranked 10th driest and Graham ranked the 14th driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings is between the 5th and 10th percentile for the month of February.

Wider weather episode

The extreme (D3) drought category was introduced to northeastern sections of southeast Arizona during beginning of February and by the end of the month included western sections and eastern sections of Southeastern Arizona. The total area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County; and Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Across Southeast Arizona, the overall precipitation ranking was in the bottom tenth of the driest months on record. Soil moisture readings fell to below the 1st percentile ranking by the end of February in most areas.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1231397. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.