Southern Arizona - Geography

Geography

Although Southern Arizona's boundaries are not well-defined, it is generally considered to include all areas south of the Gila River but sometimes only Cochise County, Pima County and Santa Cruz County, anchored by the city of Tucson. Other cities and large towns in Southern Arizona include Ajo, Casa Grande, Gila Bend, Sierra Vista, Yuma, and the border cities of Nogales and Douglas

Furthermore, the populated areas of Southern Arizona include the major U.S. Army post of Fort Huachuca and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base of the U.S. Air Force.

The most major scientific site of Southern Arizona is the set of several astronomical observatories of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, a reasonable distance west-southwest of Tucson.

Southern Arizona is the location of several large National Monuments protecting the scenery, wildlife, and archaeological sites of Southern Arizona, and the Saguaro National Park, which stands on two large sections of land, one west of the Tucson metropolitan area and the other one east of Tucson.

Sometimes, Southern Arizona is considered to include the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, also. To some authorities, the northern boundary of Southern Arizona can be considered to be the Gila River, which sometimes flows west to the Colorado River, downstream of the Scottsdale-Phoenix metropolis.

The region includes several small mountain ranges including the Chiricahua Mountains, Huachuca Mountains, Santa Ritas, the Santa Catalinas, the Rincons, the Piñalenos, and others. As surprising as it might seem, some of these mountains are high enough, cold enough, and wet enough in the wintertime to provide alpine skiing at regular ski resorts, with ski lifts, not very distant from cities such as Tucson.