Arizona and much of the Southwest have experienced unusually wet weather for the last six months. While significant long-term precipitation deficits (36 months, 60 months) remain, drought conditions over much of the state have improved considerably. As reported by the media (Ahwatukee Foothills News), the Salt River Project (SRP) has, for the first time in two years, lifted its restrictions on water use for its customers. The National Weather Service (Michael Bruce), the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (Tom Pagano), and the University of Arizona's Institute for the Study of Planet Earth (Gregg Garfin, Richard Brandt) noted that:
- Much of the state received 200 percent of average precipitation, or greater, during February.
- Precipitation in most Arizona watersheds has been well above normal this water year (Baldy SNOTEL site, Hannagan Meadows SNOTEL site).
- In Tucson, the 2004-05 winter season is the first with above average precipitation since 1997-98.
- Reservoirs averaged across the state are above seasonal norms, the first time since 2001, with three-fourths of Arizona's reservoirs at greater than 60% of capacity as of the end of February. The SRP reservoir system is projected to be full by the end of the snow melt runoff season. This will be the first time the SRP reservoir system has been at or near capacity since water year 1995.
- Most of the state's reservoirs are at or above the 1971-2000 average. Notable exceptions are Lakes Mead and Powell. These reservoirs are so large and the drought impact has been so prolonged that it will take considerably more time to refill them.
|
NCDC /
Clim. Monitoring /
Climate-2005 /
Feb /
U.S. Regional Drought /
Help
