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U.S. Department of Commerce logo and link to site Climate of 2002 - July
Southwest Region Drought

National Climatic Data Center, 15 August 2002

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July marked the eighth consecutive month with below-normal precipitation for the Southwest Region. The last 14 months have had near to well below-normal precipitation regionwide, giving the Southwest the driest rank on record for all seasons from May-July back to August-July (see table below). Although the Palmer Hydrological Drought Index has limited applicability in desert areas, as a measure of long-term hydrologic conditions the regional PHDI reached record low levels during July 2002.

Precipitation Ranks for the
Southwest Region , 2001-2002
Period Rank
Jul 26th driest
Jun-Jul 8th driest
May-Jul 1st driest
Apr-Jul 1st driest
Mar-Jul 1st driest
Feb-Jul 1st driest
Jan-Jul 1st driest
Dec-Jul 1st driest
Nov-Jul 1st driest
Oct-Jul 1st driest
Sep-Jul 1st driest
Aug-Jul 1st driest
 Southwest Region precipitation departures, January 1998 - present
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Southwest Region Palmer Z Index, January 1998 - present
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Southwest Region precipitation, August-July 1895-2002
larger image 		Southwest Region Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, January 1900 - July 2002
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Graphic showing NOAA logo NCDC / Clim. Monitoring / Climate-2002 / Jul / U.S. Regional Drought / Search / Help

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