Sonoita, Arizona
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Patagonia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85637. The Survey maps it on the Sonoita quadrangle. 803 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,885 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSonoita fell from 818 to 803 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 818 | |
| 2020 | 803 | -15 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 28 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1904 USGS Patagonia quadrangle1:125000
- 1905 USGS Patagonia quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1932 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500
- 1940 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Sonoita quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Nogales quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Nogales quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Sonoita quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1959 USGS Nogales quadrangle1:250000
- 1994 USGS Fort Huachuca quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS Sonoita quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
76 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Sonoita between 1993 and 2020, burning about 7,516 acres in total. 16 started naturally. 4 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/undetermined | 39 |
| Natural | 16 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | GARDNER |
| 25 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sonoita-Elgin Fire District | NOT NAMED |
| 21 September 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | BIG BAD TREE |
| 8 August 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Gila District Office | GARDENER |
| 5 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Coronado National Forest | DARK |
| 2 August 2020 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Coronado National Forest | DARK CANYON |
| 12 August 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Gila District Office | TWO YUCCA |
| 9 July 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Gila District Office | SONOITA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
18 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sonoita in 18 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 flash flood, 3 funnel cloud. The reports record 1 death. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2014 | Lightning | Sonoita | 1 killed | A 17-year old undocumented boy was struck and killed by lightning near Windmill Drive near Sonoita, Arizona. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sonoita | $25,000 | Thunderstorm winds peeled a metal roof off a residence and damaged several small outbuildings and trailers near Sonoita. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sonoita | $25,000 | A severe thunderstorm near Sonoita caused several downed power lines and damage to two residences. |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Sonoita | $24,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Lightning | Sonoita | $5,000 | Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Company reported outages for roughly 1,400 people in Sonoita, Whetstone, Benson, and Wilcox due to multiple thunderstorm hazards including lightning, fallen branches, and heavy rain that arched power lines. |
| September 2021 | Funnel Cloud | Sonoita | - | A short-lived funnel cloud was reported and captured on video near Sonoita. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sonoita | - | Thunderstorm outflow winds blew across northern Santa Cruz Count. The Hopkins RAWS measured a 58 mph gust. |
| March 2014 | Flash Flood | Sonoita | - | Multiple periods of heavy rain which fell during the late afternoon and evening hours causing flash flooding near Apache Springs Ranch. Law enforcement reported fast moving water that was 35 feet across flowing near Forest Service Road 4084. There was also a report of several people stranded on the other side of this flowing water in Gardner Canyon. |
| July 2013 | Funnel Cloud | Sonoita | - | A funnel cloud extended briefly from a thunderstorm southeast of Sonoita. |
| July 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Sonoita | - | A strong thunderstorm produced a well-developed funnel cloud near Sonoita. Video of the funnel cloud was obtained through the broadcast media. There was no direct evidence from the video that the funnel made contact with the ground. |
| August 1997 | Flash Flood | Sonoita | - | Several road closures due to flooding. |
| September 1995 | Hail | Sonoita | - | Several thunderstorms brought hail, gusty winds, and very heavy rain. Rain amounts were as much as two inches in 45 minutes. |
| October 2018 | Hail | Sonoita | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sonoita | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Sonoita | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Sonoita | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sonoita | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sonoita | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacienda Los Encino | 1.5 miles | 28 | |
| Elgin | 7.0 miles | 27 | |
| Patagonia | 11.0 miles | 22 | |
| Canelo | 12.0 miles | 26 | |
| Madera Canyon | 12.3 miles | 23 | |
| Alto | 12.9 miles | 23 | |
| Harshaw | 14.9 miles | 22 | |
| Trench Camp | 15.3 miles | 22 |
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 Sonoita | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1312535 | The 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 34635. 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.
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.












