July came in like a lion and out like … a dripping wet lion.
The Verde Valley started the month in extreme drought, with national forests closed for fire danger, and two large wildfires, the Rafael and Backbone Fires, burning on either end of the Valley.
Then over Independence Day weekend, the rains started, and continued throughout much of the month. For the first time in almost three years, people felt like a normal monsoon was again hitting the region, with weeks where thunderstorms seemed to form in the afternoons like clockwork.
Now that the calendar has rolled over to August, meteorologists can compare July to previous years.
The National Weather Service in Flagstaff reported this week that Tuzigoot National Monument set a new record for rainfall in July, with 6.14 inches. July’s total shattered the previous July record of 4.78 inches, recorded in 1953.
Tuzigoot’s average rainfall for July is 1.64 inches.
Tuzigoot is the closest weather station to Sedona with long-term data on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Online Weather Data tool. Monsoon rainfall can vary considerably across short distances, with civilian rain gauges in Sedona around 6 inches and some in the Village of Oak Creek averaging 7.3 inches.
July 2021 was the wettest month at Tuzigoot in almost five years. The last time it received more rain was in August of 2016, when Tuzigoot recorded 6.24 inches. To put those numbers in context, the most rain Tuzigoot has ever received in one month since records begin in 1920 was in October of 1972, when the site recorded 7.34 inches.
The rain has help reduce fire danger in the region, but the intensity of some of July’s storm events created flash floods that led to tragic loss of life in the Verde Valley and other parts of the state. Rain events have also damaged property and closed many USFS roads.
The record rainfall comes after a very dry two years. The past July total is more than all of the precipitation recorded at Tuzigoot in 2020, and more rain fell last month than the last two monsoons combined.
An average total monsoon for Tuzigoot is 5.21 inches, and Tuzigoot has surpassed that with two months left in the season.
The monsoon in very important to local plant life, but it’s not everything. Some desert plants take up most of their water from winter and spring precipitation.
The wet July has pulled Northern Arizona out of Exceptional and Extreme drought, on the U.S. Drought Monitor index, into Severe drought.
“The widespread and frequent storm activity has put down good soaking rains that have raised soil moisture levels,” Dr. Mike Crimmins, professor of climate science at the University of Arizona, wrote in an email. “You will continue to see improvements to the U.S. Drought Monitor map over the next couple of weeks as assessments are continued to be made.”
But Crimmins said it will take more than one good monsoon month — or season — to alleviate all of the symptoms of long-term drought.
At 3,553 feet, Lake Powell is 53 feet lower than it was at this time last year, a record low for the lake.
“The longer-term drought situation that is evident in some of the larger reservoir systems, especially on the Colorado River, took years to get into and will take many above-average seasons to get out of. Summer precipitation can help boost some smaller reservoir systems if conditions are really wet, but most systems rely on spring runoff from winter snow pack,” Crimmins wrote. “Hopefully we can hang on to this soil moisture into the fall, which will set us up for better spring runoff in 2022 — as long as we get some precipitation next winter.”
