Drought — Baboquivari Mountains, Arizona

2018-02-01 to 2018-02-28 · Baboquivari Mountains, Arizona

Event narrative

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout February across the same sections of southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Baboquivari, Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, as well as the White Mountains of far northern Graham and Greenlee Counties.

While most of the area received between 2 and 4 inches of precipitation from one storm system in mid February, overall soil moisture readings only improved slightly, and generally remained ranked below the 20th percentile. Prior to the precipitation event, two human-caused wildfires burned in rural areas. The Altar Fire burned northwest of Sasabe, on Mildred Peak, and consumed 3400 acres. The Knob Hill Fire burned 2900 acres just outside of the extreme drought area near Saint David.

Wider weather episode

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout February across the same sections of southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Baboquivari, Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, as well as the White Mountains of far northern Graham and Greenlee Counties.

While most of the area received between 2 and 4 inches of precipitation from one storm system in mid February, overall soil moisture readings only improved slightly, and generally remained ranked below the 20th percentile. Prior to the precipitation event, two human-caused wildfires burned in rural areas. The Altar Fire burned northwest of Sasabe, on Mildred Peak, and consumed 3400 acres. The Knob Hill Fire burned 2900 acres just outside of the extreme drought area near Saint David.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 742640. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.