When this occurs, cyclonic storms are forced southward causing precipitation in the Arizona Desert. During the summer months, convectional storms rage throughout Arizona. From mid July to the first of October, thunderstorms provide the desert with most of its moisture. These storms result from the uneven heating of the Earth's surface and they are responsible for the dangerous lightning and thunderstorms experienced in the Superstition Wilderness Area. The storms are responsible for the massive towering anvil-shaped clouds over Superstition Mountain during the summer months.
Convectional storms are responsible for large and dense dust storms.
These dust storms we experience on the desert are violent cycles of summer storm activity. Due to the inconsistency of precipitation in this region most of the area is classified as a semi-arid zone of the American Southwest. Temperatures during the summer months can exceed 130 F in the deep walled canyons of the Superstition Wilderness. The temperature can drop well below freezing during the cold winter months above 4,000. On some isolated mountain tops temperatures can drop to minus fifteen below zero.