Arizona, 2023Wildfire in Arizona, June 22 to 25, 2023
June 22 to 25, 2023 · NWS TWC · 1 event in 1 county or zone
The human-caused Post Fire started June 22 several miles southwest of Benson and spread rapidly to the northeast due to gusty winds. State Route 90 was closed for a time and several rural residents were temporarily evacuated.
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- Deaths
- 0
- 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.
The human-caused Post Fire started June 22 several miles southwest of Benson and spread rapidly to the northeast due to gusty winds. State Route 90 was closed for a time and several rural residents were temporarily evacuated. The fire consumed a total of 921 acres before becoming fully contained June 25. Fire suppression costs tallied nearly $700,000.
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 Jun 22, 2:42 AM MST, 10 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 22, 2:42 AM MST, 10 hours 9 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tucson AZ
242 AM MST Thu Jun 22 2023
.SYNOPSIS...Dry with typical June heat for the rest of the week with
temperatures ramping up into next week. Periods of breezy to windy
conditions through Saturday.
&&
.DISCUSSION...Southeast Arizona has partly cloudy to isolated
areas of broken mid to high clouds this morning and it will
continue throughout the rest of the day. The upper pattern has a
trough sitting along the west coast states where the pressure
gradient will continue tighten a little more today into the night.
This feature will bring southwesterly breezy to locally windy
conditions for Thursday and Friday afternoons. With that, there
will be elevated to near critical fire weather conditions for
the region. Please see the fire weather discussion for more
details.
For the rest of the week, the trough will progress downstream
and flowing towards the northern edge of the Rocky Mountains. This
will keep temperatures near seasonal normals through Saturday.
With temperatures in mind, high pressure will start to position
itself more into northern Mexico and southern New Mexico which
will bring the Heat to Arizona. Hotter temperatures will start to
crank up on Sunday by 4 to 10 degrees above seasonal normals and
continue through at least the beginning part of the new week.
Tucson has a 49% (Monday) and 42% (Tuesday) for Tucson hitting and
or exceeding 110 degrees. Stay tune for Excessive Heat headlines
in the coming days.
Longer ensemble models continue to show the hotter temperatures
through the rest of the new week but they have started to diverge
on how hot it will be for Southeast Arizona due to the high
pressure's location. It will be wobbling either eastward or
westward. Plus, a few ensemble models have started to show
hints of moisture moving up into Arizona, but at the moment, it
may be just enough moisture, along with some forecasted CAPE, for
dry lightning by the end of the new week and into the holiday
weekend. This is still a ways away, but it may be a signal that
the monsoon has started to show signs of life, ahem rain/storms.
&&
.AVIATION...valid through 23/12Z.
SCT-BKN clouds above 20k ft AGL mainly from KTUS eastward thru
23/03Z, then clearing skies areawide. SFC wind less than 10 kts and
variable in direction thru 22/16Z and again aft 23/04Z. Increasing
SWLY SFC wind aft 22/16Z, with speeds of 15-20 kts and gusts to 24-
30 kts, with the strongest SFC wind southeast of KTUS in the
vicinity of KALK and KDUG. Aviation discussion not updated for TAF
amendments.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...High temperatures will be within a couple of degrees
of normal into Saturday, with a strong warming trend late in the
weekend into early next week and highs soaring to 6-8 degrees above
normal. Min RH values will be in the 3-9 percent range in the lower
elevations and between 8-14 percent in the mountains into next week.
20-foot wind speeds will remain elevated, with near critical fire
weather conditions at times in the higher terrain today and to the
east/southeast of Tucson through at least early next week. Isolated
locations in eastern Santa Cruz and Cochise counties may briefly
exceed critical fire weather thresholds at times during the mid to
late afternoon hours.
&&
.TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.
&&
Visit us on Facebook...Twitter...YouTube...and at weather.gov/Tucson
Wildfire, Upper San Pedro River Valley
- When
- June 22, 12:51 PM MST to June 25, 6:00 PM MST
- Where
- Upper San Pedro River Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- State Official
- Coordinates
- 32.109, -110.569 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The human-caused Post Fire started June 22 several miles southwest of Benson and spread rapidly to the northeast due to gusty winds. State Route 90 was closed for a time and several rural residents were temporarily evacuated. The fire consumed a total of 921 acres before becoming fully contained June 25. Fire suppression costs tallied nearly $700,000.
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Rip Currents in Alabama, June 22 to 23, 20232 deaths · 2 events
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Colorado, June 22 to 23, 2023EF3 · 24 events
- Excessive Heat in Texas, June 22, 20231 death · 1 event
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, June 22, 2023$500,000 · 50 kt wind · 6 events
- Flash Flood and Heavy Rain in Georgia, June 22, 2023$250,000 · 3 events
- Tornado and Hail in Colorado, June 22, 2023EF1 · 46 events
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in North Carolina, June 22, 2023EF1 · 10 events
- Hail in New Mexico, June 22, 20232.5 in hail · 17 events
- Wildfire in Arizona, June 22 to 24, 2023$20,000 · 1 event
- Hail in Texas, June 22, 20232.75 in hail · 6 events
- Marine Thunderstorm Winds in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, June 22 to 23, 20236 events
- Marine Thunderstorm Winds in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, June 22, 202357 kt wind · 5 events
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1113309.