Drought in Arizona, March 1 to 31, 2002

Name: Drought in Arizona, March 1 to 31, 2002
Start: 2002-03-01T00:00
End: 2002-03-31T23:00
Location: Arizona

March 1 to 31, 2002 · NWS FGZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Record dry weather continued in the month of March in northern Arizona. By March 21st, the Flagstaff airport had the driest winter on record.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS FGZ wrote it up.

Record dry weather continued in the month of March in northern Arizona. By March 21st, the Flagstaff airport had the driest winter on record. The normal amount of precipitation between December 21 and March 21 for the Flagstaff airport is 7.08 inches. This season, only 0.72 inches fell. Snow amounts also lagged behind. The normal snow fall amount from July 1 to March 22 is just over 86 inches. This season, 37 inches of snow fell which is only 42% of normal to date. This dry spell has continued since the first of September. In the seven month period...4.20 inches of precipitation fell. This is only 28% of average or 10.90 inches below average. The average snowfall during this period is 95.0 inches. We received 39 inches snow which is 42% of average (56 inches below average).

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 28, 9:58 PM MST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 9:58 PM MST, 2 hours 2 minutes before

NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
958 PM MST THU FEB 28 2002

.SYNOPSIS...A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM AND COLD FRONT WILL
MOVE ACROSS ARIZONA TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. DAYTIME TEMPERATURES WILL
BE 15 TO 25 DEGREES COLDER THAN THEY HAVE BEEN THROUGHOUT MUCH OF
THIS WEEK. WINDS WILL ALSO BECOME BREEZY WITH THE APPROACH OF THE
FRONT. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW LATE TONIGHT AND FRIDAY...
MAINLY OVER THE FOUR CORNERS REGION. A SECOND COLD FRONT WILL MOVE
ACROSS THE REGION ON SATURDAY. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE OF SNOW
SHOWERS MAINLY OVER THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE STATE.
A SLOW WARMUP WILL START ON SUNDAY BUT TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN
BELOW NORMAL. THE WARMUP WILL CONTINUE ON MONDAY WITH TEMPERATURES
RETURNING TO NEAR NORMAL LEVELS.

.DISCUSSION...STRONG COLD FRONT IS THROUGH CEDAR CITY AND WILL
CONTINUE ITS TRACK SOUTH INTO NORTHERN ARIZONA OVERNIGHT. SOME SITES
TO THE NORTH ARE REPORTING BLOWING DUST. WIND FORECAST LOOKS OK
SINCE WINDS ARE FORECAST TO INCREASE AT 700MB AND WITH THE
CIRCULATIONS AROUND THE FRONT...SOME OF THE HIGHER MOMENTUM AIR WILL
BE ABLE TO MAKE IT TO THE SURFACE. SOME LOCATIONS WILL SEE EARLY
MORNING HIGHS THEN FALLING OR NEAR STEADY TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE
DAY. 00Z AVN STILL SHOWING LIGHT PRECIP OVER THE NORTHEAST PART OF
THE STATE BY MORNING...AND WE WILL GO ALONG WITH THAT. WILL UPDATE
ZONES TO REDUCE CLOUD COVER IN THE SOUTHWEST PART OF THE FORECAST
AREA AND CHANCE THE MOGOLLON RIM AND WHITE MOUNTAINS TO PARTLY
CLOUDY.
CLEMMONS
.FGZ...NONE.

.CODED TEMPERATURES/POPS FOR SELECTED CITIES IN NORTHERN ARIZONA

CITY             TEMPERATURES LO/HI           PROBABILITY OF PRECIP
                 TON FRI   SAT     SUN        TON FRI   SAT     SUN
FLAGSTAFF        023/039 008/026 004/037      000 000 000 020 000 000
WINSLOW          024/048 018/032 008/043      000 000 000 020 000 000
PRESCOTT         033/050 020/037 012/048      000 000 000 000 000 000
PAGE             031/043 024/038 022/049      020 020 020 020 000 000
WINDOW ROCK      016/036 002/024 902/035      020 020 020 030 020 000
CANYON DE CHELLY 024/044 010/032 006/043      020 020 020 030 020 000
COTTONWOOD       039/061 026/048 018/059      000 000 000 000 000 000
GRAND CANYON     025/041 010/028 006/039      000 000 000 020 000 000
GREER            022/040 007/027 003/038      010 010 010 020 010 000
HEBER            025/047 010/034 006/045      000 000 000 010 000 000
JACOB LAKE       022/035 007/022 003/033      000 000 000 020 000 000
NAVAJO N.M.      020/034 006/022 002/033      020 020 020 030 020 000
PAYSON           033/054 020/041 012/052      000 000 000 000 000 000
SEDONA           039/057 026/044 018/055      000 000 000 000 000 000
SELIGMAN         026/052 013/039 005/050      000 000 000 000 000 000
SHOW LOW         031/050 016/037 012/048      010 010 010 020 010 000
ST. JOHNS        022/046 016/030 006/041      000 000 000 030 000 000
WUPATKI N.M.     028/050 022/034 012/045      000 000 000 020 000 000

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Western Mogollon Rim

When: March 1, 12:00 AM MST to March 31, 11:00 PM MST
Where: Western Mogollon Rim forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.839, -111.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Arizona in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, March 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5284069.