Drought — Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys, Arizona

2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys, Arizona

Event narrative

For the month of September, Pima county ranked the 4th driest and Santa Cruz county ranked the 3rd driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings increased to range between the 10th through 30th percentile for the month of September. For the month of September, Santa Cruz county ranked the 3rd driest for the period of record.

Wider weather episode

The extreme (D3) drought category continued in the western, southern, eastern, and northern sections of Southeastern Arizona. The total area from western Pima County into Graham and Greenlee counties and portions of Santa Cruz, Pinal, and Cochise counties. The overall precipitation for Arizona ranking was 14th driest for the month of September. Soil moisture readings widened in range between the 1st percentile to 30th percentile ranking for the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1295545. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.