Dry and warm is the best way to describe the weather across Arizona so far this year. And when it comes to drought conditions there is no good or bad news with the latest statistics.
The National Drought Mitigation Center released updated drought numbers Thursday morning, showing that drought conditions across Arizona have remained steady for the past month.
One percent of the state is in extreme drought, with nearly 29% in severe drought. While this may not seem like good news, the fact that no increase in severity has occurred over the past month is a positive.
Comparing this year to last year, conditions are much better as Arizona heads into its driest months of the year. Last year at this same time, Phoenix had only received 0.99" of rainfall. With extremely dry conditions in 2014, 7% of the state was in extreme drought with over 54% of the state in severe drought at the end of April.
That being said, it has still been a dry 2015. Phoenix Sky Harbor has only recorded measurable rainfall on 12 days this year, totaling 1.15" in the rain gauge. This puts the official yearly rain total 1.92" below average.
Looking ahead to Monsoon 2015, there could be some relief coming to the state. The Climate Prediction Center continues to forecast above average rainfall throughout the state during the season.
El Niño is also forecast to continue through 2015. While El Niño does not directly impact the amount of rainfall the desert southwest experiences during the Monsoon, like it typically does during the winter season, it can increase the number of tropical systems in the East Pacific.
This results in a higher chance of tropical systems moving up the west coast of Mexico and ultimately spreading moisture into Arizona increasing thunderstorms chances from time to time during the season.
This scenario occurred multiple times during the 2014 Monsoon. The largest and most memorable event was when the remnants of Hurricane Norbert moved into Arizona producing widespread flooding across the Phoenix Valley.
You can keep track of the latest drought conditions and when the next chance of rain will move into the forecast by downloading the 12 News app or by visiting 12news.com/weather
