A deep and very cold area of low pressure developed across the desert southwest during the middle of January 2013, which led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across the lower deserts. Freezing temperatures developed on the morning of January 12, and continued for 4 days. The coldest morning was on January 15, the final day of the freeze outbreak, and the temperature that morning at Phoenix Sky Harbor fell to 29 degrees. The freezing temperatures resulted in significant damage across the deserts, in the form of burst outdoor pipe, crop damage and dead frost sensitive plants and trees, such a ficus and lantana. Freeze, and hard freeze, warnings were issued for the deserts of Arizona during this cold temperature outbreak.

Frost/Freeze in SOUTHWEST MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 16-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 2.00M
Crop damage: 100.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Wednesday January 16th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across much of southwestern Maricopa county, including the community of Gila Bend. A Freeze Warning was issued for the area beginning Friday night and running through Wednesday morning on January 16th. On Tuesday January 15th, the warning was upgraded to a Hard Freeze Warning, but the warning returned to a regular Freeze Warning for Wednesday. The colder desert area of southwest Maricopa county fell into the upper teens to mid 20s each morning during the freeze event; on Tuesday morning the Gila Bend airport fell to 19 degrees which represented the coldest of the 5 mornings. The extreme cold caused pipes to burst and led to losses of landscaping plants and trees, garden plants and vegetables, and citrus crops.

Frost/Freeze in LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 14-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 2.00M
Crop damage: 200.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Monday January 14th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across much of the lower Colorado River Valley, including the communities of Parker and Cibola. A Freeze Warning was issued for the area beginning Friday night and running through Monday morning on January 14th. Increased wind led to the cancellation of the Freeze Warning during the early afternoon on Monday. The colder areas along the lower Colorado river valley fell into the 20s each morning; the extreme cold caused some pipes to burst and led to losses of landscaping plants and trees, garden plants and vegetables, and citrus crops.

Frost/Freeze in CENTRAL DESERTS, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 16-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 25.00M
Crop damage: 10.00M
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Wednesday January 16th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across the central deserts, including the communities of San Tan Valley, Casa Grande, Coolidge, Florence, Arizona City and Maricopa. A Hard Freeze warning was issued beginning Saturday night, which continued through the morning hours on Monday, January 14th. The Hard Freeze warning was downgraded to a regular Freeze Warning beginning Monday night, continuing through Wednesday morning January 16th. Despite the downgrade, the  coldest morning of the freezing period was Tuesday, January 15, when the low dropped to 16 degrees in the town of Maricopa, and down to a frigid 13 degrees at Casa Grande National Monument. Overall, low temperatures each morning fell into the upper teens to low 20s over the colder deserts, resulting in the destruction of garden plants and vegetables as well as damage to landscaping plants and citrus trees. In addition, many outdoor pipes were damaged or burst completely.

Frost/Freeze in YUMA/MARTINEZ LAKE AND VICINITY, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 14-JAN-13 04:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 1.00M
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: ASOS

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Monday January 14th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing temperatures across much of southwest Yuma county including the communities of  Yuma and Martinez Lake. A Freeze Warning was issued for the area beginning Friday night and running through early Monday morning on January 14th. Increasing wind and cloudiness brought a premature ending to the Freeze Warning, it was cancelled at 4 am on Monday morning. The colder areas of southwest Yuma county fell into the mid 20s to around 30 during the mornings of the freeze event; the Yuma Red Bluff Pavement COOP station reported a low of 24 degrees on Sunday morning. The cold temperatures caused some damage to exposed pipes as well as causing the loss of landscaping plants and trees, garden plants and vegetables, and citrus crops.

Frost/Freeze in SOUTHWEST DESERTS, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 16-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 2.00M
Crop damage: 100.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Wednesday January 16th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across much of the southwestern deserts of Yuma County, including the communities of Tacna and Dateland. A Freeze Warning was issued for the area beginning Friday night and running through Wednesday morning on January 16th. The colder southwest desert areas fell mostly fell into the lower to middle 20s each morning; the extreme cold caused some pipes to burst and led to losses of landscaping plants and trees, garden plants and vegetables, and citrus crops.

Frost/Freeze in GREATER PHOENIX AREA, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 16-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 100.00M
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: ASOS

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Wednesday January 16th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The low temperature at Phoenix Sky Harbor fell below freezing on 4 consecutive days, with the coldest morning low of 29 degrees recorded on January 15th. The colder outlying areas of the Phoenix area fell into the low to mid 20s each morning, and the extreme cold caused many pipes to burst, and led to citrus crop losses as well as the death of many frost sensitive plants and trees such as ficus and lantana. The freeze event led to the issuance of a continuous freeze warning for the Phoenix area beginning Friday night January 11th and running through Wednesday morning on Janaury 16th.

Frost/Freeze in WEST CENTRAL DESERTS, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 16-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 5.00M
Crop damage: 100.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Wednesday January 16th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across much of La Paz county, including the communities of Bouse and Quartzsite. A Hard Freeze warning was issued for the area beginning Saturday night and running through Monday morning on January 14th, a regular Freeze Warning was in effect for the remaining mornings during the freeze event. The colder desert areas of La Paz county fell into the middle teens to lower 20s each morning; on Sunday morning Bouse fell to 16 degrees which was the coldest morning of the freeze event. The extreme cold caused many pipes to burst and led to losses of landscaping plants and trees, garden plants and vegetables, and citrus crops.

Frost/Freeze in NORTHWEST MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA
From 12-JAN-13 02:00:00 to 16-JAN-13 09:00:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 10.00M
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

A very cold airmass settled in across the desert southwest from Saturday January 12th through Wednesday January 16th. The cold and relatively dry conditions led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across much of northwestern Maricopa county, including the communities of Wickenburg, Buckeye and New River.  A Hard Freeze Warning was issued for the area beginning Saturday night and running through Monday morning. It was downgraded to a regular Freeze Warning which continued through Wednesday morning on January 16th. The colder desert area of northwest Maricopa county fell into the upper teens to mid 20s each morning; on Tuesday morning Wickenburg airport fell to 17 degrees. The extreme cold caused many pipes to burst and led to losses of landscaping plants and trees, garden plants and vegetables, and citrus crops.