Menacing Storm Clouds Churn Over Southeastern Arizona Desert

Dark, menacing storm clouds churned low over the desert near Safford as a rare outbreak of severe weather rolled across southeastern Arizona on Thursday, October 22.

X user Lee Patterson filmed the sky from a parking lot in the afternoon, calling it “crazy weather.” “This is looking west from Thatcher. I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking at, but there is definitely some movement,” Patterson says in the video. “I’m not quite sure I’d call it rotation, but whatever that is, it’s not what we’re used to seeing in Southeastern Arizona.” The footage shows a heavy, layered cloud base hanging over the valley as curtains of rain fall in the distance.

The National Weather Service in Tucson issued severe thunderstorm warnings for Graham County that afternoon. At 2:30 p.m., a personal weather station 3 miles southeast of Safford recorded a gust of 73 mph, and a trained spotter reported several large pine trees knocked down on Mount Graham, where 1-inch hail fell.

Heavy rain later sent flash flooding through the area, and law enforcement closed Solomon Road southeast of Safford at about 5 p.m. as floodwater poured over it.