Hawley Lake facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hawley Lake |
|
|---|---|
A view of Hawley Lake
|
|
 Hawley Lake
Location in Arizona
Hawley Lake
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Apache County, Arizona, United States |
| Coordinates | 33°59′36″N 109°45′31″W / 33.99333°N 109.75861°W |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 300 acres (120 ha) |
| Surface elevation | 8,200 ft (2,500 m) |
Hawley Lake is a beautiful lake located in east-central Arizona, in the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation. It covers about 300-acre (120 ha) of water. The lake is very high up, sitting at an elevation of 8,200 feet (2,500 m) (about 2,500 meters) above sea level.
This lake was formed long ago by ancient volcanoes. However, people have made it bigger over time. It now acts as a reservoir (a place to store water) for farms downstream. Hawley Lake is also a popular spot for fishing, especially for trout. In winter, people even enjoy ice fishing here! If you want to fish, you need to buy a special $9 license from the tribe. A person named Bill Kee has helped manage this fun area for almost 25 years. There's also a ski resort nearby, which makes the lake even more popular for visitors.
What's the Weather Like at Hawley Lake?
Because Hawley Lake is so high up, it has a special kind of weather called a humid continental climate. This means it gets cold winters with lots of snow and warm, wet summers. It's actually one of the coldest and wettest places in all of Arizona!
In March 1973, there was a huge snowfall, with about 105 inches (2.7 m) of snow falling. That's a lot of snow! Even in summer, from July to September, it rains quite a bit.
Hawley Lake holds the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in Arizona. On January 7, 1971, the temperature dropped to an incredible −40 °F/°C. It also holds the record for the most rain and snow in one year in Arizona. In 1978, it received 58.92 inches (1,496.6 mm) of precipitation, and much of that was snow.
| Climate data for Hawley Lake, AZ | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 63 (17) |
65 (18) |
67 (19) |
71 (22) |
86 (30) |
88 (31) |
88 (31) |
84 (29) |
79 (26) |
75 (24) |
69 (21) |
64 (18) |
88 (31) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 41.7 (5.4) |
43.1 (6.2) |
45.1 (7.3) |
52.3 (11.3) |
61.9 (16.6) |
73.1 (22.8) |
74.8 (23.8) |
72.0 (22.2) |
67.4 (19.7) |
58.6 (14.8) |
48.9 (9.4) |
42.8 (6.0) |
56.8 (13.8) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 24.3 (−4.3) |
26.0 (−3.3) |
29.8 (−1.2) |
37.1 (2.8) |
45.6 (7.6) |
54.4 (12.4) |
59.2 (15.1) |
57.5 (14.2) |
52.4 (11.3) |
43.0 (6.1) |
33.5 (0.8) |
26.2 (−3.2) |
40.7 (4.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 6.8 (−14.0) |
8.8 (−12.9) |
14.4 (−9.8) |
21.8 (−5.7) |
29.3 (−1.5) |
35.6 (2.0) |
43.6 (6.4) |
42.9 (6.1) |
37.3 (2.9) |
27.3 (−2.6) |
18.1 (−7.7) |
9.6 (−12.4) |
24.6 (−4.1) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −40 (−40) |
−20 (−29) |
−18 (−28) |
−16 (−27) |
6 (−14) |
19 (−7) |
29 (−2) |
26 (−3) |
21 (−6) |
3 (−16) |
−11 (−24) |
−27 (−33) |
−40 (−40) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 3.64 (92) |
3.29 (84) |
5.07 (129) |
1.97 (50) |
1.26 (32) |
1.05 (27) |
4.83 (123) |
5.18 (132) |
3.30 (84) |
2.93 (74) |
2.58 (66) |
3.08 (78) |
38.18 (971) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 30.4 (77) |
29.1 (74) |
41.8 (106) |
18.4 (47) |
2.7 (6.9) |
trace | 0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
3.2 (8.1) |
15.5 (39) |
27.0 (69) |
168.2 (427) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) | 8 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 99 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 inch) | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 11.6 |
| Source: WRCC | |||||||||||||
Hawley Lake Photo Gallery
-
An uprooted tree
-
The shoreline
-
The lake
-
Algae in the lake
-
The lake
-
The entrance sign at Hawley Lake
