Name: Heat in Arizona, July 16, 2020
Start: 2020-07-16T11:00
End: 2020-07-16T15:00
Location: Arizona

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.

Above normal temperatures occurred in southeast Arizona on July 16th with high temperatures of 95 to 100 degrees in southwest Cochise County. The Pima County Medical Examiner confirmed that heat was the primary cause of death for one teenage male near Hereford.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 15, 3:05 PM MST, 19 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 3:05 PM MST, 19 hours 55 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Upper San Pedro River Valley

When: July 16, 11:00 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where: Upper San Pedro River Valley forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: County Official
Coordinates: 32.109, -110.569 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Above normal temperatures occurred in southwest Cochise County on July 16th. High temperatures included 98 at Hereford and 95 at Tombstone. US Border Patrol and Cochise County Sheriff personnel responded to a call about a companion who was suffering from heat exhaustion near Hereford. The teenage male was found deceased. The Pima County Medical Examiner confirmed that heat was the primary cause of death.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heat, Upper San Pedro River Valley	2020-07-16	16	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arizona in 2020 Every state in 2020 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, July 2020

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 912466.