Patagonia, AZ Hail Storm – August 2025

What Happened

Patagonia, AZ saw a severe storm on August 25, 2025, with 1-inch hail detected through the afternoon and into early evening. Nine NWS alerts tracked the storm from 12:41 PM MST to 4:08 PM MST, with dual-polarization radar confidence most often supporting the hail calls.

The first alert came at 12:41 PM MST, followed by additional radar-backed notices at 1:11 PM, 1:18 PM, 1:44 PM, and 1:58 PM MST. At 2:24 PM MST, the hail call held on an NWS warning-only alert, then at 2:34 PM MST radar and a spotter both supported the report. Two more radar-derived alerts followed at 3:37 PM MST and 4:08 PM MST.

Field reports filled in the surface impacts as the storm matured. Around 2:47 PM MST, Pima County Sheriff Dispatch reported a live power line downed with a road closure. By 3:53 PM MST, a roof near I-10 and Barnett Rd. had part of its covering blown off. The same afternoon brought dust, heavy rain, and visibility drops across the corridor north of Red Rock.

At 3:55 PM MST, a spotter reported thunderstorm winds damaging equipment and cutting power to 22 customers. Another report at the same time described a dust storm moving along Interstate 10 to the north and northwest. Around 4 PM MST, a traffic camera showed near zero visibility, and at 4:07 PM MST visibility was reported at about 50 feet. At 4:09 PM MST, damaged power equipment left 1,253 customers without power. The final report in the set came at 5:30 PM MST, when social media video showed cars stuck in flooded water on the frontage road along Interstate-10 north of Red Rock.

Damage Assessment

The field reports point to a corridor storm with wind, dust, power interruption, and localized structural damage. The roof loss near I-10 and Barnett Rd. was one of the clearest building impacts in the report set. The downed live power line and the later utility damage reports show the storm hitting exposed infrastructure across the area.

Power impacts were not limited to one location. Reports documented outages to 22 customers, 8 customers, and later 1,253 customers after thunderstorm wind damaged power equipment. That sequence suggests repeated impacts to the local electrical system as the storm moved through.

Visibility losses were severe in the late afternoon. A traffic camera near Patagonia showed near zero visibility at 4:00 PM MST. A spotter reported visibility near 50 feet at 4:07 PM MST, and AWOS later showed visibility down to 0.25 miles at 4:39 PM MST. Dust storm video along Interstate 10 northward to northwestward matched the ground reports.

Flooding also appeared in the report set. At 5:30 PM MST, video showed cars stuck in flooded water on the frontage road along Interstate-10 north of Red Rock. The reports place the event along a transportation corridor that took wind, rain, dust, and water impacts in sequence.

What Contractors Should Know