Cottonwood, Arizona Weather
Cottonwood, Arizona — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, aviation weather, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Cottonwood, Apache County.
Flight conditions near Cottonwood. Data source: locating…
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Cottonwood.
About Cottonwood, Arizona
Cottonwood, Arizona, unfolds under a vast, cerulean sky, a landscape painted in ochre and sagebrush where the earth itself seems to exhale a dry, warm breath. It lies 103.5 miles west-south-west of Farmington, NM (from Farmington, NM: bearing 245°T), and is situated 19.8 miles west-south-west of Chinle. The land here is an ancient canvas, sculpted by the patient hands of wind and water into low mesas and sprawling arroyos that catch the sun’s fierce embrace. Sparse, hardy vegetation clings to the soil – tenacious cottonwood trees, their leaves a vibrant emerald against the muted tones of the desert, stand sentinel along the intermittent washes, offering pockets of cool shade. The air, especially as the day ripens towards evening, carries a fine, silken dust, and the silence is profound, broken only by the whisper of the breeze or the distant cry of a hawk circling overhead. The story of Cottonwood is inextricably bound to the verdant ribbon of the Verde River, a lifeblood that has drawn settlers and sustained communities for generations. This area, once home to the Sinagua people whose ancient dwellings still whisper of their presence, later saw the rise of ranching and agriculture, its fertile banks yielding crops under the relentless Arizona sun. In more recent times, Cottonwood has embraced its role as a gateway to the wonders of central Arizona, its economy now a blend of tourism drawn to the nearby red rock formations and the charm of its historic downtown, where echoes of its frontier past mingle with the gentle hum of everyday life. The distinctive character of Cottonwood is one of resilience and understated beauty, a place where the stark grandeur of the desert meets the quiet persistence of human endeavor.
Live animated radar for Cottonwood and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Cottonwood, Apache County, Arizona |
| Coordinates | 36.073059°N, 109.892337°W |
| Timezone | Mountain Standard Time — no DST (America/Phoenix) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 86503, 85147, 86326 |
| Area Code | 480, 928 |
| Page generated | July 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Cottonwood, Arizona Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Cottonwood, Arizona, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, real-time aviation weather (live METAR and TAF reports from the nearest reporting airport, with a modeled estimate shown when no station is in range), precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Cottonwood includes coordinates 36.073059°N, 109.892337°W, situated in Apache County. ZIP code 86503, 85147, 86326. Telephone area code: 480, 928. Timezone: Mountain Standard Time — no DST (America/Phoenix).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. Aviation data is sourced from aviationweather.gov (NOAA), with a modeled estimate used where no nearby reporting station is available. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
