| Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern | | | | National Park -- one of the first national parks in the |
| United States. It is best known for its desert landscape, | | | | United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a |
| which includes cacti. Arizona is also known for its | | | | major proponent of designating the Grand Canyon |
| exceptionally hot summers and mild winters. Less well | | | | area, visiting on numerous occasions to hunt mountain |
| known is the pine-covered high country in the | | | | lion and enjoy the scenery. |
| north-central portion of the state, which contrasts with | | | | The Canyon was created by the Colorado River |
| the lower deserts of the state. | | | | cutting a channel over millions of years, and is about |
| Arizona is one of the Four Corners states. It borders | | | | 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 |
| New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, touches | | | | miles (6 to 29 kilometers) and attains a depth of more |
| Colorado, and has a 389-mile (626 km) international | | | | than 1 mile (1.6 km). Nearly 2 billion years of the Earth's |
| border with the states of Sonora and Baja California in | | | | history has been exposed as the Colorado River and |
| Mexico. Aside from the Grand Canyon, many other | | | | its tributaries cut through layer after layer of sediment |
| National Forests, Parks, Monuments, and Indian | | | | as the Colorado Plateaus have uplifted. |
| reservations are located in the state. Arizona was the | | | | Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time, |
| 48th state admitted into the U.S. (1912), and the last of | | | | except in the Navajo Nation located in the |
| the contiguous states admitted. | | | | northeastern region of the state. |
| Arizona is located in the Western United States as | | | | Due to its large area and variations in elevation, the |
| one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth | | | | state has a wide variety of localized climate conditions. |
| largest state in area, after New Mexico and before | | | | In the lower elevations, the climate is primarily desert, |
| Nevada. Of the state's 118,000 square miles, | | | | with mild winters and hot summers. Typically, from late |
| approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining | | | | fall to early spring, the weather is mild, averaging a |
| area is government forest and park land, recreation | | | | minimum of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15°C). |
| areas and Native American reservations. | | | | November through February are the coldest months |
| Arizona is best known for its desert landscape, which | | | | with temperatures typically ranging from 40-75 °F |
| is rich in xerophyte plants such as cactus. It is also | | | | (4-24 °C), although occasional frosts are not |
| known for its climate, which presents exceptionally hot | | | | uncommon. About midway through February, the |
| summers and mild winters. Less well known is the | | | | temperatures start to rise again with warm days, and |
| pine-covered high country of the Colorado Plateau in | | | | cool breezy nights. The summer months of May |
| the north-central portion of the state, which contrasts | | | | through August bring a dry heat ranging from 90-120 |
| with the desertic Basin and Range region in the | | | | °F (32-48 °C), with occasional high |
| southern portions of the state. | | | | temperatures exceeding 125 °F (52 °C) |
| Like other states of the Southwest, Arizona has an | | | | having been observed in the desert area. Due to the |
| abundance of topographical characteristics in addition | | | | primarily dry climate, large temperature swings often |
| to its desert climate. More than half of the state | | | | occur between day and night, with some as large as |
| features mountains and plateaus and contains the | | | | 50 °F (28 °C) in the summer months. |
| largest stand of Ponderosa pine in the United States. | | | | However, the northern third of Arizona is a plateau at |
| The Mogollon Rim, a 2000-foot (600 m) escarpment, | | | | significantly higher altitudes than the lower desert, and |
| cuts across the central section of the state and marks | | | | has an appreciably cooler climate, with cold winters |
| the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, | | | | and mild summers. Extreme cold temperatures are not |
| where the state experienced its worst forest fire ever | | | | unknown; cold air systems from the northern states |
| in 2002. Arizona belongs firmly within the Basin and | | | | and Canada occasionally push into the state, bringing |
| Range region of North America. The region was | | | | temperatures below 0 °F (-18 °C) to the |
| shaped by prehistoric volcanism, followed by a | | | | higher parts of the state. |
| cooling-off and related subsidence. The entire region is | | | | Arizona has an average annual rainfall of 12.7 inches |
| slowly sinking. | | | | (322 mm),[2] which comes during two rainy seasons, |
| Arizona is home to one of the largest and most | | | | with cold fronts coming from the Pacific Ocean during |
| well-preserved meteorite impact sites in the world. The | | | | the winter and a monsoon in the summer.[3] The |
| Barringer Meteorite Crater (better known simply as | | | | monsoon season occurs from the middle of July |
| "Meteor Crater") is a gigantic hole in the middle of the | | | | through August and brings lightning, thunderstorms, |
| high plains of the Colorado Plateau, about 25 miles | | | | wind, and torrential, if usually brief, downpours. It is rare |
| west of Winslow. A rim of smashed and jumbled | | | | for tornadoes and hurricanes to occur in Arizona, but |
| boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises | | | | there are records of both occurring. |
| 150 feet above the level of the surrounding plain. The | | | | Indicative of the variation in climate, Arizona is the state |
| crater itself is nearly a mile wide, and 570 feet deep. | | | | which has both the metropolitan area with the most |
| The Grand Canyon is a colorful, steep-sided gorge, | | | | days over 100 °F (37.8 °C) (Phoenix), and the |
| carved by the Colorado River, in northern Arizona. The | | | | metropolitan area in the lower 48 states with the most |
| canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the | | | | days with a low temperature below freezing |
| world and is largely contained in the Grand Canyon | | | | |