PHOENIX – While long-term drought conditions still persist, a leading Arizona climate expert said Phoenix’s wettest fall on record was a welcome sight.

“We’ve been in a drought since 1994, so there’s a lot to make up there,” Erinanne Saffell, whose titles include Arizona State Climatologist and Arizona State University professor, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday.

Saffell, who is director of the Arizona State Climate Office, explained that the record wet autumn helped the area catch up after the state’s third driest January-August stretch on record.

“This has been great,” she said. “We’re mitigating some of that short-term drought, and we’re happy to see that.”

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