Alex Gonzalez, Public News Service (AZ)
Arizona’s drought conditions are improving.
Erinanne Saffell, a climatologist in Arizona, said it’s important to note that Arizona assesses short-term and long-term drought, both of which have recently improved.
Looking at short-term drought, Saffell explained that factors such as precipitation, soil moisture and vegetation are essential to understanding short-term impacts. Saffell pointed out that for long-term droughts, they assess trends in precipitation over 24, 36, and 48 months, incorporate temperature, and basically look at how dry the atmosphere is.
“Both give us a sense of where we are,” said Saffell. “We’ve seen improvement in the short-term and long-term drought, but some parts of the state continue to be affected by the drought.”
map about short drought The agency’s Twitter feed indicated that much of the state is currently not experiencing drought or unusually dry conditions.
Arizona last saw a situation of this kind more than two years ago, Saffell said, adding that the state, which values ​​water as much as Arizona, is happy to see the current levels. I said there should be.
She added that while the 2020 monsoon season was disappointing, the 2021 and 2022 monsoons brought significant rainfall. However, in many cases the water does not enter the state aquifer. Saffell emphasized that it is the winter precipitation that comes in the form of snow packs that really leads to recharging of Arizona’s aquifers.
“Fortunately, snow water cover is kind of how we measure snow cover here in the lower Colorado region and the lower Colorado Basin, and it’s currently at 200% of the median,” Saffell reported. I’m here. “Hopefully we can keep it going, but we’ll see what happens.”
According to her forecast, Arizona was expected to have a drier winter season, but so far it’s experiencing more humidity.
