Arizona - Grand Canyon State 

Arizona means "arisonac" an Indian word signifying "region of small rivers".
With raging rivers and shimmering lakes, fascinating caves, challenging canyons and soaring mountains, adventure-seekers can choose from an exciting menu of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Arizona Geography

Arizona is one of the Four Corners states, situated south and east of the Colorado River. It borders New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, touches Colorado, and has a 389-mile (626 km) international border with Mexico. 

Arizona is best known for its desert landscape, which includes cacti. It is also known for its exceptionally hot summers and mild winters. Less well known is the pine-covered high country in the north-central portion of the state, which contrasts with the lower deserts of the state. Like other states of the Southwest, Arizona has an abundance of topographical characteristics in addition to its desert climes. More than half of the state features mountains and plateaus and contains the largest stand of Ponderosa pine in the United States. The Mogollon Rim, a 2000-foot (600 m) escarpment, cuts across the central section of the state and marks the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, where the state experienced its worst forest fire ever in 2002. Arizona belongs firmly within the Basin and Range Province of North America. The region was shaped by prehistoric volcanism, followed by a cooling-off and related subsidence. The entire region is slowly sinking.  (Source Wikipedia)

Arizona Climate

Due to its large area and variations in elevation, the state has a wide variety of climates. In the lower elevations, the climate is primarily desert, with mild winters and hot summers. Typically, from late fall to early spring, the weather is mild, averaging a minimum of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 °C). November through February are the coldest months with temperatures typically ranging from 40–75 degrees Fahrenheit (4–24 °C), although occasional frosts are not uncommon. About midway through February, the temperatures start to rise again with sunny warm days, and cool breezy nights. The summer months of May through August bring a dry heat ranging from 90–100 degrees Fahrenheit (32–38 °C), with occasional high temperatures exceeding 125 °F (52 °C) having been observed in the desert area. Due to the primarily dry climate, large temperature swings often occur between day and night, with some as large as 50 °F (10 °C) in the summer months.

However, the northern third of Arizona is a plateau at significantly higher altitudes than the lower desert, and has an appreciably cooler climate, with cold winters and mild summers. Extreme cold temperatures are not unknown; cold air systems from the northern states and Canada occasionally push into the state, bringing temperatures below 0 °F (-18 °C) to the higher parts of the state.

Arizona has an average annual rainfall of 12.7 in (322 mm)[1], which comes during two rainy seasons, with cold fronts coming from the Pacific Ocean during the winter and a monsoon in the summer.[2] The monsoon season occurs from the end of July through August, and brings lightning, thunderstorms, wind, and torrential, if usually brief, downpours. It is rare for tornadoes and hurricanes to occur in Arizona, but there are records of both occurring.

Indicative of the variation in climate, Arizona is the state which has both the metropolitan area with the most days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 °C) (Phoenix), and the metropolitan area in the lower 48 states with the most days with a low temperature below freezing (Flagstaff). (Source Wikipedia)

	Deserts		Mountains
	Low °F/°C	High °F/°C	Low °F/°C	High °F/°C
January	37 / 3	66 / 19	21 / -6	50 / 10
February	39 / 4	69 / 21	24 / -4	54 / 12
March	42 / 6	75 / 24	27 / -3	58 / 14
April	49 / 9	83 / 28	34 / 1	67 / 19
May	56 / 16	92 / 33	40 / 4	76 / 24
June	64 / 18	100 / 38	47 / 8	84 / 29
July	73 / 23	100 / 38	57 / 14	89 / 32
August	71 / 22	98 / 37	55 / 13	85 / 28
September	66 / 19	96 / 36	48 / 9	82 / 27
October	54 / 12	87 / 31	37 / 3	72 / 22
November	43 / 6	75 / 24	27 / -3	59 / 15
December	38 / 3	67 / 19	22 / -6	51 / 11