Drought in South Central Pinal County, Arizona

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during December, with the exception of western Pima County. Precipitation totals for the month, which occurred primarily on December 9-10, totaled 0.10 to 1 inch or about 0.5 to 1.5 inches below normal. Soil moisture readings remained below the 5th percentile ranking in most areas, and below the 10th percentile ranking near the New Mexico state line. Levels at San Carlos Reservoir dropped slightly, to around 2 percent of storage capacity.