Cottonwood, Arizona Weather
Cottonwood, Arizona — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Cottonwood, Apache County.
Full aviation weather for Cottonwood is published on the Ganado Airport (K85V) page, 53 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Conditions reported at K85V describe the airfield itself. Weather 53 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Cottonwood specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
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 | September 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, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. 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. 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.
