More rain is on the way, enough to ease ongoing drought conditions. That’s especially true for Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and much of Colorado.
Arizona state climatologist Erinanne Saffell said the rain gives a boost to plants and helps reduce the risk of wildfire, but won’t make much of a dent in the decades-long water supply-demand imbalance along the Colorado River.
“In summer, we don't look at moisture," Saffell said. "We don't look at the precipitation as contributing necessarily to the water supply. We look at winter precipitation for that.”
These latest projections come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They also show cooler temperatures for the Southwestern U.S., even while the rest of the country will skew hotter.
