Drought — Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys, Arizona

2025-04-01 to 2025-04-30 · Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys, Arizona

Event narrative

The extreme (D3) drought category continued in Santa Cruz County during April. The drought area remained the same. For the month of April, Santa Cruz county ranked the 47th driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings continued below the 1st percentile for the month of April.

Wider weather episode

The extreme (D3) drought category continued in northeastern sections, 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 near normal for the month of April. Soil moisture readings fell to below the 1st percentile ranking some areas.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1253596. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.