Arizona, 2023Drought in Arizona, December 1 to 31, 2023
December 1 to 31, 2023 · NWS TWC · 5 events in 5 counties and zones
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos…
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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
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- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 5
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.
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Rain did occur on several occasions in December, though the bulk of it occurred around December 22. December monthly totals ranged from 0.5 to 2.5, with the highest amounts from Tucson westward. In the areas of extreme drought, rain amounts were generally 25 to 75 percent of normal. Soil moisture readings was in the 10th to 20th percentile ranking in most areas through December.
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 Nov 30, 2:09 PM MST, 9 hours 51 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 30, 2:09 PM MST, 9 hours 51 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tucson AZ
209 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023
.SYNOPSIS...A slow moving weather system will bring plenty of clouds
and scattered rain and mountain snow showers to the area later
tonight through Friday night. This will be followed by cold overnight
temperatures this weekend into Monday. It will be dry next week and
becoming much warmer by midweek.
&&
.DISCUSSION...System number 1 moved through last night and dropped a
bit of precipitation here and there with a light coating of snow over
the Sky Islands and around 2 inches over the higher White Mountains.
System number 2 spreading its preceding high clouds over the area
now with better mid to low level moisture to follow. We should see a
greater number of showers with this one over the next 36 hours with
the focus on Friday afternoon and evening. This is not a soaking
event, but rather scattered showers moving through from time to time
with most locations seeing some precipitation. For valley rainfall,
generally looking at areal averages of a tenth of an inch or less
south and west of I-10 with around a tenth to a little over a quarter
inch to the north. Local higher and lower amounts in each of these
areas.
The mountains will do better under this scenario thanks to uplift with
snow generally above 6,500 ft. Given that the showers won't really
get started until this evening I backed the time up a few hours for
the Winter Weather Advisory and took the opportunity to drop the
elevation level to 6,500 ft to match our neighbors to the north.
Given the latest QPF guidance, have opted to leave the areal coverage
of the advisory as is and not extend to the Catalina's. It will be
close to advisory criteria at the top but feel not close enough
overall to add them into the advisory with 3-6 inches the best bet
there.
The system moves off to the east late Friday night with clearing
skies Saturday. The clearing along with the colder air mass will
allow for some rather cold overnight low temperatures, especially
Sunday which still looks to be the coldest morning for most
locations. Still appears that a few of the outlying areas of the
Tucson metro and the colder areas in southeast Pinal county may
approach freezing Sunday morning.
Monday into Thursday an upper level ridge will develop over the
western U.S. and move off to the east late in the week. This will
allow for a strong warming trend with high temperatures peaking
around 10 degrees warmer than normal by Tuesday and that should
continue into Thursday before trending downward again.
&&
.AVIATION...Valid through 02/00.
BKN-SCT 7-10K ft MSL with BKN-OVC layers ABV. ISOLD to SCT -SHRA and
mountain SHSN. MTNS partially to mostly obscured at times in clouds
through the period and also due to SHRA/SHSN AFT about 01/04Z. West
to southwest SFC winds 10-18 kts easing to 5-12 kts AFT 01/02Z then
increasing to 10-17 kts again AFT 01/18Z. Aviation discussion not
updated for TAF amendments.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...A slow moving storm system will bring scattered rain
and mountain snow showers tonight through Friday night. Snow will be
confined to elevations above about 6,000 ft. Dry Saturday onward with
cold overnight temperatures through Monday then becoming much warmer
than normal by the middle of next week. Winds generally light (less
than 15 mph sustained) with a bit of afternoon gustiness at times
well into next week.
&&
.TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
Winter Weather Advisory from 8 PM this evening to 5 AM MST
Saturday for AZZ510-511.
&&
Public...Cerniglia
Aviation...Cerniglia
Fire Weather....Cerniglia
Visit us on Facebook...Twitter...YouTube...and at weather.gov/Tucson
Drought, Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys
- When
- December 1, 12:00 AM MST to 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 31.812, -111.318 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Rain did occur on several occasions in December, though the bulk of it occurred around December 22. December monthly totals ranged from 0.5 to 2.5, with the highest amounts from Tucson westward. In the areas of extreme drought, rain amounts were generally 25 to 75 percent of normal. Soil moisture readings was in the 10th to 20th percentile ranking in most areas through December.
Drought, Eastern Cochise County Below 5000 Feet
- When
- December 1, 12:00 AM MST to December 31, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Eastern Cochise County Below 5000 Feet forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 31.880, -109.751 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Rain did occur on several occasions in December, though the bulk of it occurred around December 22. December monthly totals ranged from 0.5 to 2.5, with the highest amounts from Tucson westward. In the areas of extreme drought, rain amounts were generally 25 to 75 percent of normal. Soil moisture readings was in the 10th to 20th percentile ranking in most areas through December.
Drought, Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys
- When
- December 1, 12:00 AM MST to December 31, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 33.074, -109.563 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Rain did occur on several occasions in December, though the bulk of it occurred around December 22. December monthly totals ranged from 0.5 to 2.5, with the highest amounts from Tucson westward. In the areas of extreme drought, rain amounts were generally 25 to 75 percent of normal. Soil moisture readings was in the 10th to 20th percentile ranking in most areas through December.
Drought, Chiricahua Mountains
- When
- December 1, 12:00 AM MST to December 31, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Chiricahua Mountains forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 31.880, -109.751 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Rain did occur on several occasions in December, though the bulk of it occurred around December 22. December monthly totals ranged from 0.5 to 2.5, with the highest amounts from Tucson westward. In the areas of extreme drought, rain amounts were generally 25 to 75 percent of normal. Soil moisture readings was in the 10th to 20th percentile ranking in most areas through December.
Drought, Dragoon/Mule/Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains
- When
- December 1, 12:00 AM MST to December 31, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Dragoon/Mule/Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 31.834, -110.796 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The extreme (D3) drought category continued across far southern and eastern sections of southeast Arizona during December. The area near the New Mexico line encompassed southern Greenlee, southeast Graham and eastern Cochise counties, including the Chiricahua Mountains; while areas near the International Border stretched from the Huachuca Mountains westward across Santa Cruz County to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Pima County. Rain did occur on several occasions in December, though the bulk of it occurred around December 22. December monthly totals ranged from 0.5 to 2.5, with the highest amounts from Tucson westward. In the areas of extreme drought, rain amounts were generally 25 to 75 percent of normal. Soil moisture readings was in the 10th to 20th percentile ranking in most areas through December.
- 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.
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Washington, December 1 to 4, 20233 deaths · $5,000 · 6 events
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Montana, December 1 to 4, 20231 death · 3 injured · $130,000 · 3 events
- Drought in Missouri, December 1 to 31, 2023$52 million · 22 events
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Idaho, December 1 to 4, 20231 death · 1 injured · $15,000 · 17 events
- Drought in Kansas, December 1 to 31, 2023$4.8 million · 1 event
- Wildfire in Colorado, December 1 to 2, 2023$2.0 million · 1 event
- Drought in Iowa, December 1 to 31, 202347 events
- Drought in New Mexico, December 1 to 31, 202339 events
- Flash Flood in Louisiana, December 1, 2023$60,000 · 1 event
- Drought in Tennessee, December 1 to 31, 202336 events
- Drought in Georgia, December 1 to 31, 202335 events
- Drought in Virginia, December 1 to 31, 202324 events
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: 1149476, 1149477, 1149478, 1149480, 1149481.