Weekly Map - Drought Conditions

The Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee confers weekly to advise the U.S. Drought Monitor authors on the current drought conditions in Arizona, and makes recommendations about the position of the drought boundaries for Arizona. The U.S. Drought Monitor is the official record of drought for Federal drought relief claims. Information used by the MTC in advising the Drought Monitor authors includes numerous drought indices, precipitation and stream flow data, and impacts data. Every Thursday, the Drought Status web page automatically updates with the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map of Arizona.

Short-term Drought Conditions

Monthly Drought Status Summary: May 2025

A wetter system at the start of May brought significant precipitation to mostly western counties, including Mohave, Yavapai, La Paz, and Yuma counties. Kingman received 0.81” of rain (normal amount for May is 0.08”), Lake Havasu City received 1.04” of rain (normal is 0.03”), and Prescott received 0.88” (normal is 0.47”). Overall, temperatures were above normal across most of the state. 

Short-term drought marginally improved following a wetter system early in May. Extreme (D3) short-term drought narrowly decreased in western counties while remaining in central and southern counties (55% of state). Severe (D2) short-term drought slightly expanded in Mohave, La Paz, and Yavapai counties (21% of state) while Moderate (D1) short-term drought was maintained in northern Yavapai, central Coconino, and northern Navajo and Apache counties (17% of state). Exceptional (D4) short-term drought continued in Mohave, Yuma, and southeastern counties (6% of state) as did Abnormally dry (D0) conditions in northeastern Apache County (1% of state).

ENSO neutral conditions will persist at least through the summer with odds tilted towards the monsoon being warmer and wetter than normal across the state.

Long-term Drought Conditions

Quarterly Drought Status Update: January - March 2025

Overall, April 2020 to March 2025 ranked as the 3rd hottest and 4th driest on record, expanding long-term drought conditions. While areas of Apache, central Coconino, central Yavapai, and north Cochise counties maintained Moderate (D1) or Severe (D2) long-term drought, Extreme (D3) long-term drought extended into Coconino, Navajo, Gila, and Yavapai counties and remained across most central and southern counties. Exceptional (D4) long-term drought advanced into all counties, now largely covering Mohave and La Paz counties, eastern and northern Coconino County, and much of northern Maricopa County.

This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, March, 2025. Arizona's long-term drought status map is updated quarterly and the next update will take place in July, it will reflect the conditions of May, June, and July. The long-term drought status for each watershed is determined by comparing the precipitation and streamflow percentiles for the past 24, 36, 48 and 60 months to a 40-year historical record.