Arizona

You may imagine Arizona as a vast desert, but rather It has quite diverse landscape that includes mountains, valleys, plateaus, canyons, and deserts. Due to the state’s large area and range of elevation, it's climate is also quite diverse, there is a variety of localized climate conditions.

Overall, most of Arizona receives little precipitation, and is classified as having either an arid or semi-arid climate. The northern parts of the state and the mountainous areas tend to have cooler climates, while the southern parts of the state tend to be warm year round.

The desert climate of Arizona is in the southwestern part of the state and along the west where Arizona borders Nevada and California. To the north-northeast, the geological region of the Colorado Plateau is home to ancient volcanic mountains, plateaus and the Grand Canyon, spanning the Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. Between the deserts of the south and the plateaus of the north is a thin strip of rugged mountain ranges called the Central Highlands, a region characterized by lower temperatures and higher annual rainfalls compared to the rest of the state.

As a result, the weather and climate in Arizona can be rather unpredictable depending on where in the state you go. The highest elevation, 12,633 feet above sea level is located at Humphrey's Peak northwest of Flagstaff, while the lowest elevation is 70 feet above sea level at the Colorado river south of Yuma.

You can find a low desert climate in Phoenix and Yuma, a mid-desert in Tucson and Wickenburg; a high desert in Prescott, Payson, Bisbee, and Sedona; plateau highlands in Williams, Page, and Holbrook; and cold mountainous regions in Flagstaff and Greer.