With more rain on the way, monsoon moisture eases Sonora’s drought for now

Neighboring Sonora has seen a lot of rainfall in recent weeks, and it’s easing the state’s critical drought situation. For now.

Over the early summer, it was easy to find Sonora on the national water commission’s drought monitor map: It was the state covered almost uniformly in brown and red, the colors indicating severe and extreme drought.

Now, according to the most recent map, all but the state’s northern border with Arizona is free of drought. Just five municipalities of the state’s 72 are showing severe drought, and another 12 have moderate drought, according to federal data.

Dam levels have also been rising, and officials have been releasingwater from the El Novillo reservoir — one of Hermosillo’s key supplies — as it nears capacity.