Drought — Baboquivari Mountains, Arizona

2018-03-01 to 2018-03-31 · Baboquivari Mountains, Arizona

Event narrative

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout March 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, but expanded westward from the White Mountains in northern Graham and Greenlee Counties across the San Carlos Apache Tribe lands of northwestern Graham County.

While some rain did fall in the extreme drought area, amounts were light, ranging from 10 to 50 percent of normal for March in northern areas and less than 25 percent of normal in southern areas. Overall soil moisture readings generally remained ranked below the 20th percentile, but wildfire activity was suppressed as a result of the widespread precipitation event that occurred in mid February. Levels in the San Carlos Reservoir, which had been hovering between 7 and 8 percent of capacity through the winter, dropped to near 6 percent by the end of March.

Wider weather episode

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout March across the same sections of southeast Arizona and expanded westward from the White Mountains in northern Graham and Greenlee Counties across the San Carlos Apache Tribe lands of northwestern Graham County due to below normal rainfall for the month.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 745872. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.