Drought in Galiuro and Pinaleno Mountains, Arizona

A wet August caused the extreme (D3) drought category to cease in parts of the Tohono O'odham Nation and Graham, Greenlee, and much of Cochise counties--only remaining in far southeast Cochise County, where it eased from the exceptional (D4) drought category present in July. August rainfall of 2 to 8 inches in the drought-stricken areas varied from 100 to 300 percent of normal. The rainfall caused soil moisture readings to improve to the 70th percentile or greater by month's end. Levels at San Carlos Reservoir continued to rise, but still only reached around 3 percent of capacity by the end of the month.