November may bring hope after one of driest Octobers on record in Arizona

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — October was extremely dry across the lower 48 of the United States.

In fact, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows the week ending Oct. 29 as having 87% of the contiguous U.S. as abnormally dry. That is the driest reading since 2000.

Arizona was also dry in October, although data from Iowa Environmental Mesonet lists the state as the 92nd wettest out of 132 years of data. In other words, Arizona finished as the 40th driest October out of 132 years. That is dry, but it is not record-breaking.

So, what is the outlook for November? The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting some potential relief for parts of the Corn Belt and plains. For Arizona, they are not leaning either direction.

However, November may start with some active weather in the southwest. There is a storm on the way late Saturday evening into Sunday which will likely bring some rain and snow to the High Country.

The Valley may even pick up a little bit of rain. In addition, there could be another system on the way later next week.

This is one of the reasons that the CPC is leaning above normal for the southwest U.S. and most of Arizona from Nov. 6-10.

It’s a bit up in the air how November will end, but hopefully we can keep the precipitation train on the tracks.

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