It rains, it pours – it’s still a drought

East Valley gutters are damp from the weekend’s steady drizzle. Snow covers the high country. But a drought that has lasted eight years still grips the state, climate experts said.

"It has been so dry, even a little bit of rain makes it seem like it’s really wet," said Charlie Ester, manager of water resource operations for Salt River Project. "It’s really not the end of the drought."

Despite the wet autumn, on Monday the Valley remained about a half-inch below normal rainfall for the year, said officials with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

A five-day forecast showed a slight possibility of rain showers late tonight and Wednesday morning. Warmer, drier weather can be expected for later this week.

To escape the drought, experts said, above-average rain and snow would be needed throughout the winter — and stay above average for two or three more years. Ester said he suspected this winter will be an exception to the record dry conditions.

However, the wetter weather will provide shortterm benefits, he said. Groundwater will be recharged, large wildfires are less likely, and bark beetles will find fewer droughtweakened trees to kill, Ester said.

Lakes that SRP manages on the Verde River are filling up because of the random placement of the rain, but those account for only 10 percent of the utility’s storage capacity, he said. The Valley’s largest reservoir, the Salt River-fed Roosevelt Lake, remained 29 percent full on Monday, he said.

Valley communities and agriculture operations use a combination of water from SRP reservoirs, underground aquifers, and the Central Arizona Project Canal. Weather experts hope for heavy snowpack in the mountains that melts into the Salt River system in the spring.

Earlier this year, climatologists said they were hoping the El Niño weather pattern would bring Arizona plenty of rain this winter. Yet the El Niño effect, which starts with warmer temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, appears to be weaker than expected, said Andrew Ellis, a climatologist with Arizona State University.

"From December through February, there is an equal chance for below- or abovenormal rainfall," Ellis said. "Precipitation in the Southwest is so iffy."

Ellis said the slow drizzles have "prepped" the soil for a good winter snowpack — otherwise, the dry ground would suck up the spring melt.

Tempe water usage fell to 28 million gallons a day from about 36 million gallons a day during the weekend rains, said the city’s water department manager, Tom Gallier.

The rain and cooler weather was even more appreciated in Mesa, where a water treatment plant is out of operation. Water usage dropped to 66 million gallons a day on Sunday from 75 million gallons a day on Thursday, said Bill Haney, Mesa water division director. "We’re d rawing a considerable amount from groundwater and CAP," Haney said. "This has helped us a lot."