Last updated: November 25, 2025
Article
Climate Monitoring at Tuzigoot National Monument: Water Year 2024
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Overview
Together, climate and hydrology shape ecosystems and the services they provide, particularly in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Understanding changes in climate and water is key to assessing the condition of park natural resources—and often, cultural resources.
At Tuzigoot National Monument (Figure 1), Sonoran Desert Inventory and Monitoring Network scientists study how ecosystems may be changing by taking measurements of key resources, or “vital signs,” year after year—much as a doctor keeps track of a patient’s vital signs. This long-term ecological monitoring provides early warning of potential resource problems, allowing managers to mitigate them before they become worse. At Tuzigoot National Monument, we monitor climate, among other vital signs.
Reporting is by water year (WY), which begins in October of the previous calendar year and goes through September of the water year (e.g., WY2024 runs from October 2023 through September 2024). This web report presents the results of climate monitoring at Tuzigoot National Monument in WY2024.
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Climate and Weather
There is often confusion over the terms,“weather” and “climate.” Weather describes short-term meteorological conditions (e.g., it’s currently raining or snowing, it’s a hot or frigid day), and climate reflects patterns of weather at a given place over longer periods of time (seasons to years). Climate is the primary driver of ecological processes on Earth. Climate and weather information provide context for understanding the status or condition of other park resources.
Methods
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Observer Program (NOAA COOP) weather station (Tuzigoot #028904) has been operational at Tuzigoot National Monument since 1977 (Figure 1). This station typically provides a reliable climate dataset. However, in WY2024 it was missing data on 22 days. As a substitute, climate analyses in this year’s report use WY2024 and 30-year averages (1991–2020) of gridded surface meteorological (GRIDMET) data from the location of the station. Subsequent reports may revert to the weather station as the data source, depending on future data quality.
GRIDMET is a spatial climate dataset (4-kilometer resolution) that is interpolated using weather station data, topography, and other observational and modeled land surface data. Temperature and precipitation estimated from GRIDMET may vary from actual weather at a particular location depending on the availability of weather station data and the difference in elevation between the location of interest and that assigned to a grid cell. Data from both the weather station and GRIDMET are accessible through Climate Analyzer.
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Results
Precipitation
Highlight: Precipitation was well below average because of relatively dry fall and monsoon months.
Annual precipitation at Tuzigoot National Monument in WY2024 was 9.62″ (24.4 cm), 2.69″ (6.8 cm) less than the 1991–2020 annual average. Monthly precipitation totals October–January were drier than the 1991–2020 averages (Figure 2). Wetter than average conditions occurred in February and March, before drier conditions returned in April and May. The GRIDMET precipitation total in June was 0.96″ (2.4 cm), over nine times the average; however, the actual station data for June recorded only 0.25″ (0.6 cm), which is still above average. This may be because of the spatial variability of monsoon storms. The rest of the monsoon season (July–September) received less than average precipitation.
Air Temperature
Highlight: It was slightly warmer than average throughout most of the year.
The mean annual maximum temperature at Tuzigoot National Monument in WY2024 was 81.2°F (27.3°C), 1.5°F (0.8°C) above the 1991–2020 average. The mean annual minimum temperature in WY2024 was 49.5°F (9.7°C), 1.3°F (0.7°C) above the 1991–2020 average. Mean monthly maximum and minimum temperatures in WY2024 differed by as much as 6.3°F (3.5°C; see June as an example) relative to the 1991–2020 monthly averages (Figure 2). Mean monthly maximum temperatures in WY2024 were generally warmer than the 1991–2020 averages, except in January–March. Mean monthly minimum temperatures were also warmer than average, except in January, March, and May.
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Drought
Highlight: Drought conditions prevailed in 2024.
Reconnaissance drought index (Tsakiris and Vangelis 2005) provides a measure of drought severity and extent relative to the long-term climate. It is based on the ratio of average precipitation to average potential evapotranspiration (the amount of water loss that would occur from evaporation and plant transpiration if the water supply was unlimited) over short periods of time (seasons to years). The reconnaissance drought index for Tuzigoot National Monument indicates that WY2024 was drier than the 1991–2024 average from the perspective of both precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (Figure 3).
Reference: Tsakiris G., and H. Vangelis. 2005. Establishing a drought index incorporating evapotranspiration. European Water 9: 3–11.
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Report Citation
Author: Kara Raymond
Raymond, K. 2025. Climate Monitoring at Tuzigoot National Monument: Water Year 2024. Sonoran Desert Network, National Park Service, Tucson, Arizona.