Drought — Baboquivari Mountains, Arizona

2011-08-01 to 2011-08-31 · Baboquivari Mountains, Arizona

Event narrative

After beneficial rainfall in July and early August, the entire month of August ended with below normal rainfall except across parts of western Cochise County. The result was that D3 extreme drought conditions retreated eastward, completely exiting Santa Cruz County, by the middle of the month, but expanded even farther westward across Pima and Pinal Counties by the end of August. D4 exceptional drought conditions did show an overall decrease in state coverage from 4.83% to 1.35%, with only extreme eastern Cochise County, southern Greenlee County, and extreme southeast Graham County remaining in exceptional drought conditions in southeast Arizona. The most impacted watersheds during August were the San Simon watershed (2nd percentile for rainfall) and the Santa Cruz watershed (2nd percentile for rainfall), which received very little rainfall. July's rainfall brought an end to the fire season so many recreational areas were reopened in August. The state and federal forest services conducted large scale seeding operations across the burn scar areas attempting to mitigate the flash flooding concerns. Very few ranchers were still holding onto cattle, so agriculture impacts were somewhat lessened during the month. Cotton and vegetable crops were reported as being fair to excellent as irrigation was being maximized.

Wider weather episode

Long term drought conditions continued in August although minor improvement due to beneficial monsoon rain, occurred across parts of Cochise, Graham and Greenlee Counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 345657. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.