Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Western Region for March–May 2022. Dated June 2022.

Temperatures were below average across the Pacific Northwest, northern California, and the northern Great Basin. Dry conditions persisted across the Southwest with record low spring precipitation in parts of Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is pleased to share our 2021 Annual Report to provide insight into the many accomplishments of the program over the previous year and the opportunities that lie ahead.

The southwestern United States, comprising the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, is experiencing an historic continuing drought. In early 2020, an extreme deficit in precipitation paired with extremely high temperatures marked a low point in two decades of below-average precipitation across the region.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Western Region for December 2021–February 2022. Dated March 2022.

Above-normal temperatures were observed in mountain regions in California, Colorado, Arizona, and Oregon. Despite a wet December, high pressure-induced dry conditions during January and February created widespread below-normal conditions throughout the West.