Sabino Creek stopped flowing at Sabino Dam northeast of Tucson on April 17 — about three weeks earlier than it has dried up in recent years, water officials reported.
The reason is no mystery.
“It was the warm winter and the fact that there wasn’t much moisture,” said Emmet McGuire, Tucson Field Office Chief for the Arizona Water Science Center.
The center, which is part of the U.S. Geological Survey, maintains a stream flow gauge at Sabino Dam.
“We’re in the dry part of the year, and there’s nothing to save us now,” McGuire said. “It will probably stay dry until the monsoon.”
McGuire said this year’s mid-April dry-up of the watercourse in popular Sabino Canyon was one of the earliest in recent years. The creek stopped flowing on May 6 last year and on May 7 in 2012.
