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Arizona Monthly
State
Temperature & Precipitation Update
On approximately the 20th of each month the recent
climate conditions across the state of Arizona
are reviewed. The analysis is a cursory look at general conditions across the
state.*
The primary climate variables of temperature and precipitation
are monitored for the state of Arizona
by climatically homogeneous areas termed ‘climate divisions’. There are 7
climate divisions for Arizona.
From the stations within each climate division, mean values of temperature
and precipitation for the division as a whole are computed.
Since April 2006, precipitation has been monitored for the 15
watersheds in Arizona
as part of the recommendations of the Governor’s Drought Task Force. Each month the average precipitation for
each watershed is calculated and ranked against that month’s precipitation
during the period of 1971-present. Here,
values for the most recent month along with 3-, 6-, 12-, 24-, 36-, and
48-month mean temperature and total precipitation values are ranked within a
historical context (1895-present for temperature in the climate divisions and
1971-present for precipitation in the watersheds) and the rankings are
divided by the number of years of data and multiplied by 100% to create
percentiles. Low percentile values
indicate cool or dry conditions while high values indicate warm or wet
conditions. For example, a temperature that falls at the 100th
percentile means that it is the highest temperature for the period of
record. The ADWR Drought Program monthly drought updates
use the 3-, 6-, and 12-month precipitation for short term drought status and
24-, 36-, and 48-month precipitation along with streamflow to determine the
long term drought categories by watershed.
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State Climate Office 