Flagstaff Geography and Climate Descriptions in Wikipedia

[CodyW]

Originally Posted by Rialta

One issue I have is that when the word 'desert' is used, how high in elevation (not counting mountains) does that go? I guess Reno, NV, and Sedona, AZ (both at about 4,400 feet) could be described as the 'high desert', but what about Prescott at 5,200 feet? It just seems to me that Flag, at 7,000 feet, seems to high to be a 'desert.'

But where would a 'cutoff' be (if there is one) in elevation?

The desert classification has very little to do with elevation, and more with precipitation received.

[jraulpilot]

Originally Posted by Rialta

One issue I have is that when the word 'desert' is used, how high in elevation (not counting mountains) does that go? I guess Reno, NV, and Sedona, AZ (both at about 4,400 feet) could be described as the 'high desert', but what about Prescott at 5,200 feet? It just seems to me that Flag, at 7,000 feet, seems to high to be a 'desert.'

But where would a 'cutoff' be (if there is one) in elevation?

.


**Interesting question; I've had the same feeling when I drive on I-40 east to west and back to Florida.
Then again technically by topography and location Flagstaff is in the middle of A DESERT. ???**!??

[thedirtman]

There is a bit of a relationship between elevation and rainfall. Travelling I-17 from Flagstaff to Phoenix I tend to think the desert lies below 3,000 feet. Semi-desert is 3,000 to 6,000 feet. There are exceptions though. The Painted Desert has a poor soil that allows little vegetation to grow, so I might consider that to be desert even though it's above 3,000 feet. There is a rainshadow created behind the White Mountains. Springerville might be semi-desert at 7,000 feet. The southeastern part of the state, including Tucson, gets a bit more rainfall than what one would normally consider desert, but it looks desert anyway, maybe from evaporation.

[magnum0417]

The definition of a desert is based on rate of evaporation more than actual precipitation received. San Diego averages barely 10 inches of rain/year. However, since rate of evaporation is far less there than a place like Tucson that gets more precip, San Diego is not a desert.

The geographical variety is awesome north of PHX. I consider north of Black Canyon City to Sedona steppe/grassland although it's defined as a desert based on the definition in the first paragraph. North of Sedona of course is Ponderosa which survives above 6500 feet. I have land at 6000 feet in Valle which is sagebrush and juniper. Yet, north towards Tusayan and south towards Williams it becomes ponderosa on Rte 64 when it hits 6500 feet elevation.

Deserts I have seen as high as 7500 feet. Namely the Alamosa,CO area of the San Luis Valley which has sagebrush and gets about as much precip as Phoenix.

[Fiddlehead]

I would consider Flag to be subhumid. By that, I mean 20-30 inches of precip. per year with a moderate temperate climate. It is at the low end of subhumid, but too wet to be semiarid. I live in Ashland, Oregon, which is also subhumid (~20 inches/year). Places like Denver, Sedona, and classic pinon juniper country (Gallup, NM) strike me as semiarid.