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Winter Brings No Respite From Historic Sonoran Drought

As of mid-December, all of Sonora’s 72 municipalities had at least severe levels of drought, with 49 reporting extreme drought and another five showing exceptional levels of drought — the highest classification.

Since at least 2003, this is the first time that the entire state has experienced some level of drought in December, according to federal data analyzed by KJZZ.

Recently the federal government approved an emergency drought declaration for much of the state, as reported by the Sonoran outlet Expreso. But that designation only frees up resources to ensure human access to water, not water for the state’s massive agricultural sector, which fears significant losses.

Murphy Woodhouse was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2018 to 2023.