Baboquivari Mountains storm history

Temperatures in the 30s were observed with wind chills in the 20s during the predawn hours of January 7th. The Pima County Medical Examiner confirmed that hypothermia was the primary cause of death for one adult male. The death occurred in the Baboquivari Mountains.

For the month of October, Pima county ranked the 13th driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings increased to range between the 30th through 70th percentile for the month of October.

Extreme Drought (D3) continued in the Baboquivari Mountains in the month of July. For the month of July, Pima county ranked the 19th driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings increased to range between the 30th through 70th percentile for the month of July. The Extr…

Extreme Drought (D3) continued in the Baboquivari Mountains in the month of June. For the month of June, Pima county ranked the 20th wettest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings continued to range in the 1st through 5th percentile for the month of June.

The extreme (D3) drought category continued in central Pima County in the Tohono O'odham Nation during May. For the month of May, Pima county ranked the 55th wettest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings continued to range between the 1st through 5th percentile for the…

The extreme (D3) drought category continued in the Baboquivari Mountains in the month of April. The drought area remained the same. For the month of April, Pima county ranked the 37th driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings increased between the 1st through 5th pe…

The extreme (D3) drought category continued in western sections of southeast Arizona during March. The drought area remained the same. For the month of March, Pima county ranked the 57th driest for the period of record. Soil moisture readings fell below the 1st percentile for the…

Very hot temperatures of 7 to 14 degrees above normal caused the Major Heat Risk category to be reached across southeast Pima County, south central Pinal County and the lower elevations of Santa Cruz County August 27-29. Record highs included 111 degrees at Picacho Peak; 108 at S…

The lightning caused Gallineta Fire started July 23 in the southern Baboquivari Mountains in southeast Pima County. Due to windy and dry conditions, the fire quickly consumed 1601 acres before full containment was achieved on July 25. Fire suppression costs tallied $400,000.

Very hot temperatures 5 to 8 degrees above normal were experienced in western Pima County and the Tohono O'odham Nation June 25-26, causing the Major Heat Risk category to be reached. Ajo topped out at 112 degrees both days while Sells reached 107. On June 26, Organ Pipe Cactus N…

The lightning caused Contreras Fire started on June 11 in the Baboquivari Mountains on Tohono O'odham tribal lands within Pima County. Gusty winds helped the fire grow rapidly in dry fuels and rugged terrain. Kitt Peak Observatory was evacuated prior to the fire overtaking the ar…

The human caused Presumido Peak Fire started March 26 twenty miles northwest of Sasabe in the Baboquivari Mountains in southern Pima County. The wildfire burned over 1000 acres in the first 24 hours and was driven by wind gusts near 40 mph at times. It consumed a total of 2591 ac…

A wet July caused the exceptional (D4) drought category and extreme (D3) drought category to cease across nearly all of southeast Arizona, with exceptional drought only remaining in far southeast Cochise County by the end of the month. The extreme (D3) drought category remained a…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during June, with the exception of western Pima County. Most areas only tallied 0.5 or less for the month, which is close to normal. A few locations received 1-1.5 of rain,…

The human caused Sycamore Canyon Fire started May 23 in the Baboquivari Mountains of Pima County. The wildfire grew to 1858 acres by May 28 in hot and dry conditions. No fire growth was experienced after this date, but the fire was not officially contained until June 4. Fire supp…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during May, with the exception of western Pima County. Rain for the month totaled less than 0.10 inch in most areas with spotty amounts of 0.25 to 0.50 inch on May 20-21. S…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during April, with the exception of western Pima County. Precipitation totals for the month totaled less than 0.25 inch, or less than 25 percent of normal, in most areas, b…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during March, with the exception of western Pima County. Precipitation totals for the month totaled 0.5 to 1.5 inches in some areas or 75 to 125 percent of normal, but many…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during February, with the exception of western Pima County. Precipitation totals for the month totaled 0.5 to 2.0 inches near the Mogollon Rim or 50 to 100 percent of norma…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during January, with the exception of western Pima County. Precipitation totals for the month totaled 0.5 to 1.5 inches, with higher amounts in the form of snow on the high…

The exceptional (D4) and extreme (D3) drought categories continued across a large part of southeast Arizona during December, with the exception of western Pima County. Precipitation totals for the month, which occurred primarily on December 9-10, totaled 0.10 to 1 inch or about 0…

The exceptional drought (D4) category, which began in eastern portions of Pima and Pinal counties and western Graham County in October, expanded across all of Graham and Greenlee counties, northern Cochise and Santa Cruz counties and central Pima County during November. The extre…

The extreme drought (D3) category, which began in late August and expanded in September, expanded further in October to include all of the Tohono O'odham Nation and all of Santa Cruz and Cochise counties, except for the Huachuca Mountains. Extreme drought continued across all of …

The human caused Encinos Fire started 11 miles northwest of Arivaca along the eastern slopes of the Baboquivari Mountains in southeast Pima County on October 6th. The fire spread to over 10,000 acres by October 10th driven by strong winds, hot temperatures and very dry fuel condi…

Very hot temperatures 6 to 18 degrees above normal occurred in the lower elevations of southeast Arizona, causing the High Heat Risk category to be reached July 10 through July 13. A number of daily high temperature records were tied or broken. Safford Airport recorded its highes…

Snowfall began the morning of the February 21st and continued into the 22nd. By the evening of February 21 estimated snowfall totals in the Baboquivari Mountains above 5000 feet were one foot or greater.

Extreme drought (D3 category) continued across Santa Cruz, far southwest Cochise, portions of southeast Pinal and southeast Pima, central Graham and northern Greenlee counties, including part of San Carlos Apache Tribal lands and the Baboquivari, Santa Rita, Huachuca and White Mo…

Extreme drought (D3 category) continued across Santa Cruz, far southwest Cochise, much of Pima, all but far southeast Pinal Counties and the northern halves of Graham and Greenlee Counties including the Tohono O'odham Nation, the San Carlos Apache Tribal lands and the Baboquivari…

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, expanded during May into western Pima County and southeast Pinal County and continued across southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County, and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the B…

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout April in two areas of southeast Arizona. One area encompassed southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County, and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Baboquivari…

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout March across the same sections of southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Baboquivari, Santa Rita and Huachuca Mou…

Extreme drought (D3 category), which began in January, continued throughout February across the same sections of southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Baboquivari, Santa Rita and Huachuca …

The extreme drought (D3) category was reached in late January across southeast Pima County, Santa Cruz County and far southwest Cochise County including portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Baboquivari, Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains. The extreme drought category was …

An extended period of excessive heat occurred across nearly all of southeast Arizona. Elevations between 5000 and 7000 feet recorded temperatures between 100 and 105 degrees including 103 degrees at Carr RAWS and 100 at Hopkins RAWS.

Heavy snow and strong winds occurred on the higher elevations of the Baboquivari Mountains including Kitt Peak.

Widespread snowfall occurred across the Baboquivari Mountains with 6 inches on Kitt Peak.

About 6 inches of snow occurred on Kitt Peak on the Baboquivari Mountains.

Kitt Peak had between 10 and 12 inches of snowfall.

Drastic improvements were made to drought conditions during the first half of December as widespread beneficial rain fell across the entire region. The early December rainfall coupled with above normal rainfall in November was sufficient to remove D3 (extreme) and D4 (exceptional…

After a dry October, D3 (extreme) drought conditions spread across much of southern Arizona to begin November. That marked an increase from 13.88% of the state to 28.59% under D3 conditions. That's the largest total area for D3 conditions since the drought began last winter. Ther…

Following near normal Monsoon rainfall, dry and warm conditions returned to southern Arizona in October. Most areas received less than 50 percent of October's normal rainfall with a large swath receiving less than 10 percent of normal rainfall. Tucson International Airport receiv…

The month of September started off with above average rainfall across eastern Pima County and well as western Cochise County. However, the rest of the area continued to receive below normal rainfall and above normal temperatures. Tucson International Airport received the fifth hi…

After beneficial rainfall in July and early August, the entire month of August ended with below normal rainfall except across parts of western Cochise County. The result was that D3 extreme drought conditions retreated eastward, completely exiting Santa Cruz County, by the middle…

July brought much needed monsoon moisture to southern Arizona, but rainfall amounts were not sufficient to drastically reduce the severity of the drought conditions. Drought conditions were unchanged to start the month with some reduction of D3 and D4 conditions by the end of the…

Extremely dry conditions continued in June with no rainfall to begin the month. The first Drought Monitor issued during June expanded D3 conditions to include all of Graham, Greenlee, and Cochise Counties. It also introduced the first D4 exceptional drought condition into extreme…

Eight inches of snow occurred at Kitt Peak at an elevation of near 7000 feet.