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Unusually wet winter, spring push Arizona out of short-term drought

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Posted at 7:51 AM, Jun 04, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-04 10:51:36-04

The U.S. Drought Monitor has reported that, for the first time in its nearly 20-year history, none of the contiguous states was showing symptoms of severe or exceptional drought — including Arizona.

This year's abnormally wet May helped push the state out of a 10-year drought period.

According to the monitor’s weekly report in late May, only 20.5% of Arizona was showing moderate drought or “abnormally dry” symptoms.

Data for the same week in 2018 found 100% of the state in moderate drought or abnormally dry, with a majority of the state experiencing severe (97%) or extreme drought (73.2%).

Read more about the drought report in this article from the Phoenix Business Journal.