November 7, 2019
Phoenix Climate Package
Phoenix is located in the Salt River Valley at an elevation of about 1100 feet. The valley is oval-shaped and flat except for scattered precipitous mountains rising between a few hundred feet to as much as 1500 feet above the valley floor. Sky Harbor Airport, where the weather observations are taken, is in the southern part of Phoenix. Six miles to the south of the airport are the South Mountains rising to 2500 feet. Eighteen miles southwest, the Estrella Mountains rise to 4500 feet, and 30 miles to the west of the airport, are the White Tank Mountains rising to 4100 feet. The Superstition Mountains, over 30 miles to the east, rise to as much as 5000 feet. The valley, though located in the Sonora Desert, also supports large acreages of cotton, citrus, and other agriculture, along with one of the largest urban populations in the United States. The water supply for this complex desert community is partly from reservoirs on the impounded Salt and Verde Rivers and partly from a large underground water table.
