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Cottonwood, Arizona

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Mingus Mountain census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86326. It stands on Blowout Creek. The Survey maps it on the Cottonwood quadrangle. 12,029 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,314 feet above sea level.

Cottonwood within Yavapai County

On record in Cottonwood

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 11 records

Population over time

2 figures

Cottonwood grew from 11,265 to 12,029 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201011,265
202012,029+764 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 29 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

302 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 302 fires within 5 miles of Cottonwood between 1992 and 2020, burning about 214 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined254
Natural14
Debris and open burning9
Recreation and ceremony8
Smoking5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Arson/incendiarism2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acrePrescott National ForestOXBOW
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
30 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
29 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreVerde Valley Fire DistrictNOT NAMED
26 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office12-0002075
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreVerde Valley Fire DistrictNOT NAMED
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreVerde Valley Fire DistrictNOT NAMED
19 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Yavapai County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 27 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 27 workings within 5 miles of Cottonwood: 8 prospects, 8 past producers, 6 producers, 3 unknowns. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Copper, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Green Monster GroupCopper, Silver, GoldPast Producer
Green Monster MineGold, Copper, SilverProducerChalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Gold
Jerome Slag DumpCopper, IronUnknown
Mccarthy ClayClayOccurrence
Sullivan-Burke PropertyIronProspect
Clarkdale Cement PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Clarkdale MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Cliff MineCopper, SilverProducerChalcopyrite, Copper
Amazon and Missouri ClaimsCopper, Gold, SilverPast Producer
Farview GroupCopper, UraniumProspect

Every working recorded in Yavapai County

Storms near this place

23 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cottonwood in 23 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 5 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 5 heavy rain, 3 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 1999LightningCottonwood$40,000A stationary trough of low pressure centered over Nevada introduced strong westerly vertical shear to northern Arizona. This shear combined with the ever present monsoon moisture to produce numerous reports of severe weather across Yavapai county. The tornado 8 miles east of Chino Valley was observed to land in an open field and did no damage. Lightning started a house fire in Cottonwood.
August 2018LightningCottonwood$10,000A lightning strike started a house fire. No injuries were reported.
July 1996Thunderstorm WindCottonwood$500no account filed
August 2022HailCottonwood-Hail up to one inch in diameter fell in Cottonwood.
July 2021Flash FloodCottonwood-Street flooding was reported in Cottonwood with water flowing over the road.
August 2017Flash FloodCottonwood-Cottonwood Police Department reported flooding in homes in several areas in Cottonwood.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindCottonwood-Strong thunderstorm winds snapped a tree trunk greater than 12 inches in diameter in front of the Clemenceau Heritage Museum. The thunderstorm also produced penny sized hail and over an inch of rain in 30 minutes.
June 2015Heavy RainCottonwood-Heavy rain for 30 minutes (1.50 inches)--enough to float a small boat on the roads.
September 2015Heavy RainCottonwood-Several heavy thunderstorms produced 2.44 inches of rain at the Jerome State Historical Park. This lead to flash flooding over the Old Jerome Highway.
August 2014Heavy RainCottonwood-Heavy rain caused street flooding in Cottonwood and one street (Aspen) was closed due to the flooding.
September 2009Heavy RainCottonwood-Heavy rain and flowing washes were reported by a spotter 3 miles southwest of Cottonwood.
May 2009Heavy RainCottonwood-Heavy rain from a thunderstorm fell over the Cottonwood area. Rainfall rates exceeded 2.00 inches an hour in some reports. Street flooding was reported all over town by the Cottonwood Police Department.
May 2009HailCottonwood-Dime sized (3/4 inch diameter) hail was reported in south Cottonwood with very heavy rain.
July 2007FloodCottonwood-Flash flooding closed the intersection of 6th and Date Streets.
July 2006Flash FloodCottonwood-Three to five inches of rain fell in the Cottonwood area. Roads washed out and concrete slabs were displaced. Several homes had six to twelve inches of water in them.
September 1999HailCottonwood-A Cottonwood weather spotter reported one inch diameter hail.
October 1997FloodCottonwood-Highway 260 in Cottonwood flooded by heavy thunderstorm rains.
August 1995Thunderstorm WindCottonwood-Several trees were blown down from thunderstorm winds.
July 2001HailCottonwood-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindCottonwood-no account filed
August 2000Thunderstorm WindCottonwood-no account filed
August 2000Funnel CloudCottonwood-no account filed
September 1996HailCottonwood-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Yavapai County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Smelter City0.7 miles21
Clemenceau1.0 miles29
Bridgeport1.4 miles21
Verde1.8 miles21
Verde Village2.0 miles29
Centerville2.9 miles30
Clarkdale3.4 miles30
Tapco4.3 miles30

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on CottonwoodAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79463The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 27993. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.