Arizona Drought Update: Entire state now in drought

The official drought numbers were released this week, and the news isn't great. It should not be too shocking, given that the monsoon has been relatively lackluster and it has been very hot, but now every inch of Arizona is in some type of short-term drought. Before this week, just about 1% of the state (around Flagstaff) was in what is called "abnormally dry," which indicates areas that could be entering a drought. But given the current conditions, that area was pushed into "Moderate Drought".

Looking at the state as a whole, currently 2.3% is in "Exceptional Drought," which is the worst drought classification, and this is actually down from 3.1% back on July 15th. So there is a tiny bit of good news.

But, if you compare drought conditions to this same time last year, we have seen a big change for the worse. Last year, only 20.8% of the state was in a short-term drought, and of course, this year that number is 100%.

Looking ahead, there are no signs that a significant pattern change will take place to result in widespread rainfall, so drought conditions are likely to remain about the same or worsen.