Name: Drought in Arizona, June 10 to 30, 2014
Start: 2014-06-10T12:00
End: 2014-06-30T23:59
Location: Arizona

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: 2

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 TWC wrote it up.

Extreme drought (D3) conditions continued across part of southeast Arizona and expanded westward in Pinal county and eastward across northern Graham and Greenlee counties during June. Outside of the Chiricahua Mountains, little if any precipitation was observed during June.

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 Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 10, 10:20 AM MST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 10, 10:20 AM MST, 1 hour 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1020 AM MST TUE JUN 10 2014

.SYNOPSIS...STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT CENTERED OVER MEXICO WILL
PROVIDE DRY CONDITIONS WITH ABOVE NORMAL DAYTIME TEMPERATURES INTO
THIS WEEKEND. A DISTURBANCE MOVING NORTH OF THE AREA WILL BRING
WINDY CONDITIONS EAST OF TUCSON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

&&

.DISCUSSION...MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES PREVAIL ACROSS SE AZ AT THIS TIME
AS A FEW THIN CIRRIFORM CLOUDS TRAVERSE THE AREA. DEWPOINTS AT LOWER
ELEVATIONS VALID 17Z RANGED NEAR 10 F ACROSS NERN SECTIONS TO AROUND
50 F FROM KOLS WWD INTO WRN PIMA COUNTY. THESE TEMPS ACROSS ERN
SECTIONS WERE ABOUT 10 DEGS F LOWER VERSUS 24 HOURS AGO...BUT
DEWPOINTS WERE LITTLE CHANGED ELSEWHERE VERSUS THIS TIME MON. 10/12Z
KTWC SOUNDING TOTAL PRECIP WATER VALUE WAS NEAR 0.60 INCH...NEARLY
IDENTICAL TO 24 HOURS AGO. THE SOUNDING SUPPORTS A HIGH TEMP OF 105
F...AGAIN IDENTICAL TO THE MON MAX TEMP AT KTUS. 10/12Z UPPER AIR
PLOTS DEPICTED RIDGE AXIS FROM SRN AZ NWD INTO WRN WYOMING...AND A
577 DM LOW CENTERED JUST WEST OF POINT CONCEPTION CALIFORNIA. LIGHT
TO MODERATE GENERALLY WLY FLOW PREVAILED ABOVE 600 MB ACROSS SE AZ.

UPPER RIDGE AXIS WILL MOVE EWD ACROSS SE AZ TODAY. 09/12Z NAM/GFS/
CONTINUE TO DEPICT AN AXIS OF LOWER AND MID-LEVEL MOISTURE TO EXIST
THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING FROM WRN CHIHUAHUA NWWD INTO FAR SE AZ. SOME
TOWERING CUMULUS CLOUDS MAY DEVELOP ACROSS FAR SERN SECTIONS THIS
AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...STILL APPEARS THAT A STRONG MITIGATING FACTOR
FOR ANY MEASURABLE PRECIP WILL BE WARMING ALOFT AND THE CONTINUATION
OF A VERY DRY NEAR-SURFACE ENVIRONMENT. SOME GUSTY WLY/SWLY WINDS
WILL OCCUR THIS AFTERNOON...BUT SPEEDS WILL BE WELL BELOW WIND
ADVISORY CRITERIA.

SUBTROPICAL HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED ESSENTIALLY OVER MEXICO WILL
REMAIN QUASI-STATIONARY STARTING WED AND CONTINUE INTO THIS WEEKEND.
WINDY CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR EAST OF TUCSON WED AFTERNOON AND EARLY
WED EVENING AS A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES NORTH OF THE AREA. HAVE
NOTED THAT THE 10/12Z NAM/GFS WERE MORE ROBUST WITH THEIR LOWER AND
MID-LEVEL MOISTURE FIELDS FOR THUR-FRI VERSUS PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS.
10/12Z NAM SOUNDINGS SUGGEST THE BEST CHANCE OF HIGH-BASED MAINLY
DRY TSTMS WOULD OCCUR FRI AFTERNOON...ESSENTIALLY FROM NEAR TUCSON
EWD ACROSS MAINLY COCHISE COUNTY. WILL ADDRESS THE PROSPECT FOR
PRECIP FURTHER IN THE AFTERNOON DISCUSSION.

THEREAFTER...DRY CONDITIONS SHOULD PREVAIL SAT-MON AS STRONGER WEST
TO SOUTHWEST WIND ALOFT PUSHES DEEPER MOISTURE WELL EAST OF THE
AREA. DAYTIME TEMPS THIS FORECAST PERIOD WILL AVERAGE SEVERAL
DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.

&&

.AVIATION...VALID THRU 12/00Z.
A STRONG HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER SE AZ THIS MORNING WILL MOVE EAST
OF THE AREA TONIGHT. A DISTURBANCE WILL THEN MOVE NORTH OF THE AREA
WEDNESDAY. DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON...WITH A FEW-SCT CLOUDS MOSTLY ABOVE 12K FT AGL. WINDS
WILL BE STRONGER THIS AFTERNOON AND WEDNESDAY VERSUS PREVIOUS DAYS.
SURFACE WIND THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING WILL BE WLY/SWLY
12-20 KTS WITH GUSTS OF 25-30 KTS. SURFACE WIND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
WILL BE WLY/NWLY 15-25 KTS WITH GUSTS OF 25-35 KTS. THE STRONGEST
WIND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WILL BE IN THE SAFFORD VALLEY INCLUDING
KSAD. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT CENTERED OVER MEXICO WILL
BRING DRY CONDITIONS THROUGH THURSDAY. A DISTURBANCE MOVING NORTH OF
THE AREA WILL BRING WINDY CONDITIONS EAST OF TUCSON WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON. THE AREA FROM THE SAFFORD VALLEY SOUTHWARD INTO EASTERN
COCHISE COUNTY IS THE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE LOCATION TO POTENTIALLY REACH
RED FLAG CRITERIA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...THE COVERAGE AND
TIME FRAME FOR CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS TO OCCUR IS EXPECTED
TO BE QUITE LIMITED.

THERE ARE INDICATIONS THAT LOWER AND MID-LEVEL MOISTURE MAY BE
SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS...OR ISOLATED DRY
THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY EVENING. AT THIS TIME...
APPEARS THE BEST CHANCE OF THIS OCCURRENCE WOULD BE JUST EAST OF
TUCSON TO THE NEW MEXICO BORDER...AND ENCOMPASS MUCH OF COCHISE
COUNTY. WILL DECIDE LATER TODAY WHETHER OR NOT TO INTRODUCE A SLIGHT
CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY EVENING.

THEREAFTER...EXPECT DRY CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY
AS STRONGER WEST TO SOUTHWEST WINDS ALOFT PUSHES DEEPER MOISTURE WELL
EAST OF THE AREA. SOME BREEZINESS SHOULD OCCUR DURING THE AFTERNOON
AND EARLY EVENING HOURS DUE TO CONTINUED STRONG DAYTIME HEATING.

&&

.CLIMATE...STARTING TODAY AND CONTINUING THROUGH JULY 17...THE 30
YEAR NORMAL DAILY HIGHS FOR TUCSON WILL BE IN THE TRIPLE DIGITS.

&&

.TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

VISIT US ON FACEBOOK...TWITTER...YOUTUBE...AND AT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON

FRANCIS

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, South Central Pinal County

When: June 10, 12:00 PM MST to June 30, 11:59 PM MST
Where: South Central Pinal County forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 32.904, -111.345 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) category persisted across eastern Pinal, western Graham, extreme northeastern Pima and much of northern Cochise counties through June. By the middle of the month, extreme drought (D3) expanded into south central Pinal, northeast Graham and northern Greenlee counties. Virtually no rain fell in the drought area. Levels at San Carlos Reservoir fell to about 3 percent of capacity by the end of the month. Soil moisture remained at less than 20 percent of normal. Ranchers continued to be affected by the depletion of rangeland forage vegetation throughout the dry spring. The Skunk Fire perimeter was contained early in the month with over 73,000 acres consumed. Due to the dry conditions, lightning was able to easily ignite other wildfires during June, the most notable of which was the Oak Fire in the Galiuro Mountains. This became an actively managed fire that burned over 13,000 acres.

Drought, White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties

When: June 10, 12:00 PM MST to June 30, 11:59 PM MST
Where: White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 33.074, -109.563 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) category persisted across eastern Pinal, western Graham, extreme northeastern Pima and much of northern Cochise counties through June. By the middle of the month, extreme drought (D3) expanded into south central Pinal, northeast Graham and northern Greenlee counties. Virtually no rain fell in the drought area. Levels at San Carlos Reservoir fell to about 3 percent of capacity by the end of the month. Soil moisture remained at less than 20 percent of normal. Ranchers continued to be affected by the depletion of rangeland forage vegetation throughout the dry spring. The Skunk Fire perimeter was contained early in the month with over 73,000 acres consumed. Due to the dry conditions, lightning was able to easily ignite other wildfires during June, the most notable of which was the Oak Fire in the Galiuro Mountains. This became an actively managed fire that burned over 13,000 acres.

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

More

Every storm in Arizona in 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, June 2014

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: 528861, 528862.