Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains storm history

A man on a four-day hike suffered heat exhaustion in the Santa Catalina Mountains. He had checked in the morning of his passing but did not make it to his pick up point. High temperatures were above normal and ranged from 90 to 100 degrees between 5000 and 7000 feet.

Lightning started the Bighorn Fire on the west side of the Santa Catalina Mountains during the evening of June 5th. The fire spread rapidly over the subsequent days and weeks, driven by multiple days of strong winds. Residents of Summerhaven, nearby mountain communities and those…

Extreme Drought (D3) continued in the Santa Catalina and Rincon 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 …

Extreme Drought (D3) continued then decreased to Severe Drought (D2) in the Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains in the beginning 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 thro…

About 11 inches of storm total snow occurred in Summerhaven.

About 13 inches of snow occurred in the village of Summerhaven. Strong gusty winds in excess of 40 mph also occurred with this storm system resulting in blowing snow.

About 12 inches of snow occurred in the Summerhaven area and surrounding Catalina Mountains. Wind gusts also exceeded 40 mph.

The lightning caused Chimney Fire started on July 19 and burned 1,636 acres on the far east side of the Santa Catalina Mountains in northeast Pima County before becoming contained on July 22. Fire suppression costs tallied $1 million.

The lightning-caused Ventana Fire started before sunrise June 20 on the edge of the Tucson Metro area in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The fire was contained by June 23 after it consumed 133 acres.

About 12 inches of snow occurred in Summerhaven with wind gusts in excess of 50 mph.

Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph were common across the Santa Catalina Mountains along with a storm total of 12 to 14 inches of snow with blizzard-like conditions at times. Several trees and power poles were down on Mt, Lemmon prompting Ski Valley to close down their slopes the fol…

Strong wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph combined with snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches occurred over the Santa Catalina Mountains including Summerhaven and Mount Lemmon.

About 19 inches of snow occurred in the Summerhaven region of Mt. Lemmon.

About a foot of snow occurred near the summit of Mt. Lemmon at elevations above 8000 feet.

Heavy snow occurred in Ski Valley where 12-18 inches was observed. Slightly lower in elevation at Summerhaven there was 10-12 inches. This event spanned from 2021 into 2022.

Heavy snow occurred in Ski Valley where 12-18 inches was observed. Slightly lower in elevation at Summerhaven there was 10-12 inches. This event spanned from 2021 into 2022.

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 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…

Heavy snow accumulations of 10 to 14 inches combined with winds gusting to 40 mph caused blowing and drifting snow in the Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains. Mount Lemmon Highway remained closed at the base due to the heavy snow.

Nine to eleven inches of snow fell at the higher elevations of the Santa Catalina Mountains, which caused the closure of Mt Lemmon Highway at the base.

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 extreme drought (D3) category, which began in late August, continued throughout September across the same sections of southeast Arizona from Tucson north and east, and expanded southward to encompass all of Graham and Greenlee counties along with all but the southwest quarter…

The extreme drought (D3) category was reached in late August across most of Graham County, northern and central Greenlee County, northwest Cochise County and eastern portions of Pima and Pinal counties, including San Carlos Apache tribal lands, the White Mountains, the Pinaleno M…

Lightning started the Bighorn Fire on the west side of the Santa Catalina Mountains during the evening of June 5th. The fire spread rapidly over the subsequent days and weeks, driven by multiple days of strong winds. Residents of Summerhaven, nearby mountain communities and those…

Snow began the evening of the March 11th and continued into the evening of the 12th. By the afternoon of March 12 a foot of snow had fallen in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Mount Lemmon Highway was closed to everyone but residents for a time due to heavy snow.

Snowfall began the morning of the February 21st and continued into the 22nd. By the evening of February 21 over a foot of snow had fallen in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Summerhaven reported a storm total of 30.5 inches and Willow Canyon reported 27 inches.

Accumulating snow began on the afternoon of December 31. By the morning of January 1 estimated snowfall totals in the Catalina and Rincon Mountains above 7000 feet were one foot or greater.

Heavy snow fell in the Catalinas with Summerhaven and Mount Lemmon Ski Valley reporting more than 15 inches of snow. A semi-tractor trailer jackknifed in the snowy conditions on Mount Lemmon Highway, blocking both lanes of traffic. The road closure resulted in about twenty people…

The Burro Fire started in the foothills of the southeast side of the Santa Catalina Mountains on June 30th, then quickly spread both northwest and southeast during July. Summerhaven and other residences on the mountain were evacuated for several days. Mt. Lemmon Highway and Redin…

The Burro Fire started in the foothills of the southeast side of the Santa Catalina Mountains northwest of Redington Pass. The fire was less than a 1,000 acres in size at the end of June but grew considerably during July.

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.

The higher elevations of Mt. Lemmon received about 12-18 of snow.

Very heavy snow and strong damaging winds occurred on the Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains. Numerous trees were toppled over along Catalina Highway near Mt. Lemmon. Additionally, one felled tree damaged a cable line on one of Ski Valley's ski lifts. Power was lost to most of t…

An ultrasonic anemometer on Mt. Lemmon recorded a wind gust to 105 MPH before the instrumentation iced up. In addition, snowfall of 5 inches occurred which resulted in brief blizzard-like conditions. This event began on January 31.

An ultrasonic anemometer on Mt. Lemmon recorded a wind gust to 105 MPH before the instrumentation iced up. This resulted in many trees downed on Mt. Lemmon. In addition, a total snowfall of 5 inches occurred which resulted in brief blizzard-like conditions. This event continued i…

Heavy snow of 12 to 18 inches occurred on Mount Lemmon including around the village of Summerhaven.

Snow began in the Santa Catalina Mountains on New Year's Eve and became heavy. By the time snow ended early on January 1st, 2015, just over a foot of snow accumulated on Mt. Lemmon above 8000 feet.

Heavy snow fell in the Santa Catalina Mountains New Year's Eve. By the time snow ended early on January 1st, 2015, just over a foot of snow accumulated on Mt. Lemmon above 8000 feet.

Southwest winds were sustained between 40 and 50 mph with gusts around 65 mph.

Widespread snowfall occurred across the Catalina and Rincon mountains with 12 inches on Mt. Lemmon.

Mt. Lemmon had about 24 to 30 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…