Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of 9,159 feet (2,792 m),[1] is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Due to the elevation change from the bottom to the top, the summit of the mountain can be 20–30°F cooler than the base.

It typically sees from 10 to 20 inches of monthly snowfall during the winter, making it a cool escape and popular tourist attraction for Tucson inhabitants.

[9] At the peak is the Mount Lemmon Observatory, which was formerly the site of a USAF radar base of the Air Defense Command,[11] and the building that formerly housed a military emergency radar tracking station for landing the Space Shuttle at White Sands Missile Range.

The area and buildings that makes up the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory are leased from the Forest Service by the University of Arizona.

The beautiful, curving road is a favorite drive for tourists, for locals escaping summer's heat and cyclists, and has been recently designated as the Sky Island Parkway, part of the US National Scenic Byway system.