southwest region climate in summer southwest region climate in summer

Branches and leaves of an ancient conifer (Walchia dawsonii), Permian Hermit Shale, Arizona. Maps modified from maps by Wade Greenberg-Brand, originally published inThe Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Earth Science of the SouthwesternUS, after figure 3 in L. Grande (2013) The Lost World of Fossil Lake. For southern and western Colorado, the intrusions of moist air are most common from mid July into September associated with wind patterns sometimes called the Southwest Monsoon. Introduction The overall climate of the Southwestits weather patterns over a long period of timetends to be warm and dry. The number of days with temperatures above 35C (95F) and nights above 24C (75F) has been steadily increasing since 1970, and the warming is projected to continue. There were spots that received large amounts of rain, but overall Nora was a bust. In 2020, Colorado ranked 7th in the nation for solar and wind power production, and Arizona and New Mexico ranked 12th and 13th, respectively. PRI is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Satellite photo showing smoke from the Calf Canyon-Hermit Creek Fire on May 10, 2022. Annual Weather SummaryNovember 2022 to October 2023. The first letter of each zone in the key indicates its major classification. Because higher temperatures mean greater evaporation and warmer air can hold more water, precipitation will occur in greater amounts at a time, but less frequently. Large portions of the Southwest have experienced drought conditions since weekly Drought Monitor records began in 2000. Historic data from Livneh et al. On the other hand, there is not much agreement among projections for future change in the monsoon, except for regarding the timingmost projections suggest that, under continued climate change, the monsoon will start later in the summer and end later in the fall than it currently does (3). Shallow seas invaded the continent, ultimately covering the whole area until the late Carboniferous. National Drought Mitigation Center. Image by The High Fin Sperm Whale, created from images by NOAA National Weather Service training material (Wikimedia Commons, public domain). This fire, which started as two separate fires that merged, began in April 2022 and has since burned more than 138,000 hectares (340,000 acres) of land and over 300 homes. Water supply is an important issue in the Southwest, and communities will need to adapt to changes in precipitation, snowmelt, and runoff as the climate changes. For extended periods from 2002 to 2005 and from 2012 to2020, nearly the entire region was abnormally dry or even drier (see Figure 2). The coldest periods will be in late November, mid- and late December, and mid-January. Based on the long-term Palmer Index, drought conditions in the Southwest have varied since 1895. In 2000-2003, the combination of severe drought and unusually high temperatures led to a significant die-off of pion pines in the Four Corners region of the Southwest. Wind moves the air, promoting mixing. Winds and waves shape the landscape, and rain showers support lush vegetation. In addition, temperature increases and recent drought have resulted in earlier spring snowmelt and decreased snow cover on the lower slopes of high mountains, bringing about more rapid runoff and increased flooding. Winter precipitation often involves large-scale frontal systems. In the late Ordovician (about 460 to 430 million years ago), the Earth fell into another brief but intense ice age. Global temperatures during the Cretaceous were very warm, as much as 10C (18F) above those at present. . Parts of the Southwest are also experiencing long-term reductions in mountain snowpack (see the Snowpack indicator), which accounts for a large portion of the regions water supply. Famous sheriffs like Wyatt Earp and outlaws like Billy the . Right:Reconstruction of living animals. In the Southwest, climate change may impact a variety of resources, including water availability in the form of snowpack and spring streamflow, the distribution and composition of plant communities, and fire regimes. Reconstruction created usingPaleomap(by C. Scotese) forGPlates. SUMMARY OF THE OUTLOOK FOR NON-TECHNICAL USERS. Precipitation, while sparse, peaks in the summer during the monsoonal storms, and again in the winter from storms originating in the Pacific Ocean. Storms form when there is strong convection in the atmosphere. Accessed March 2021. www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag. This page uses Google Analytics. Also found are a number of tree species with a disjunct distribution. Climate at a glance. The white arrow is pointing to one of the leaflets of a compound leaf. Left (1):Leaves of a seedling. The North American monsoon, variously known as the Southwest monsoon, the Mexican monsoon, the New Mexican monsoon, or the Arizona monsoon is a pattern of pronounced increase in thunderstorms and rainfall over large areas of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, typically occurring between June and mid-September.During the monsoon, thunderstorms are fueled by daytime heating . (2015) . It's made up of the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Figure by Ingrid Zabel for PRI's [emailprotected] project (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license). Acad. Average temperatures range from about 60 to 80 F in Paris, while in Nice and on the south coast they range from around 80 to 90 F. In recent years, heatwaves in Paris and elsewhere have brought record-breaking temperatures, sometimes exceeding 100 degrees F. Summer storm systems are common. An official website of the United States government. Digital Encyclopedia of Earth Science: Why talk about climate change? Higher elevations (such as those found in the Rockies and on the Colorado Plateau) are also cooler, with approximately a 1.5C (3F) decrease in mean annual temperature for each 300-meter (1000-foot) increase in elevation. Data for Figures 1 and 3 were obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Centers for Environmental Information, which maintains a large collection of climate data online at: www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag. Layers of gypsum, an evaporate, from the Permian Castile Formation, Eddy County, New Mexico. For temperature, the 2020 monsoon was the hottest on record for the Southwest with an average temperature of 77.1 F, significantly beating the previous record of 76.8 F in 2011 (average is 74.3 F). The last glacial advance of the modern ice age peaked some 18,000 years ago. Photo by Jeffrey Beall (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, image resized). Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management (flickr, public domain). Map modified from amap by Chiche Ojeda (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped and modified). In a broad sense, the Southwests climate is mostly dry and hot, with much of the region characterized as arid. Modified fromFigure 11 in Kirby et al. Has hurricanes and tornadoes. The North Rim is 8000 feet (2438meters) to 9000 feet (2743 meters) above sea level. (1) The North American Monsoon, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society by David Adams and Andrew Comrie, provides a comprehensive overview of the North American Monsoon and related research through the late 20th century. Photo by Kenneth Carpenter (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped and resized). In Utah, areas below 1200 meters (4000 feet) receive less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) per year, while higher elevations in the Wasatch Mountains receive more than 100 centimeters (40 inches). Global temperatures fell further in the late Miocene thanks to the formation of the Himalayas. There was likely little or no glacial ice anywhere on Earth, and temperatures were highest in lower latitudes. Arizona's highest elevations receive an average of 65 to 76 centimeters (25 to 30 inches), with lower areas in the states southwestern portion averaging less than 8 centimeters (3 inches). Snowpack helps keep the ground and soil moist by covering it longer into the spring and summer, which delays the onset of the fire season and influences the prevalence and severity of wildfires. Sci. We are largely unaware of this precipitation because of the Southern California Chamber of Commerce and a lack of rain gauges. So is climate change increasing monsoon variability? Climate change in the Southwest The global rise in temperatures will affect different locations on earth in unique ways. Zack also mentioned our good friend El Nio! Convective mixing stops because the vertical column of air has turned over so that the cool air is at the bottom and the warm air is at the top. One recent study explored the relationship between the monsoon and wildfires in the Southwest and northern Mexico, finding that monsoon rains were important for ending wildfires. Warmer temperatures also make it easier for insect pests to overwinter and produce more generations. Elevation does, however, play a key role in precipitation received throughout the Southwest. Go to the full list of resources about the climate of the southwestern U.S. Go to the full list of general resources about climate. Every part of the Southwest experienced higher average temperatures between 2000 and 2020than the long-term average (18952020). Photo by James St. John (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized). Although much of the Southwest falls within the category of an arid zone, using a single label to describe the Southwest's climate would belie its diversity. Photo by James St. John (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image resized). Andrews Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, at two points in time. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Forecasts had all of this widespread flash flooding. Regarding changes that have already occurred, the report finds modest evidence that the monsoon rainfall has intensified since the 1970s, and this has been partly attributed to greenhouse gas emissions. The state's highest temperatures occur in the northeastern plains, where they can exceed 46C (115F). A couple of field campaigns, including the Arizona-based South-West Monsoon Project (SWAMP, 1993) and the international North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME, 2004), provided a lot of observational data and resulted in a better understanding of the mechanics of the monsoon. The rainfall generally has a strong diurnal cycle, meaning a daily pattern of mostly dry mornings, storms developing through the day, and most rainfall occurring in the afternoon and evening. The North American Monsoon is a seasonal change in the atmospheric circulation that occurs as the summer sun heats the continental land mass. You mentioned, if I understood correctly, that a La Nina pattern during winter months leads to an increase in the North American Monsoon in late summer. Here at the ENSO Blog, were always curious about the role of ENSO (El Nio/Southern Oscillation, the entire El Nio/La Nia system). Smog (haze caused by air pollution) over Salt Lake City, Utah, 2016. Average is based on 19792020 using CPC Unified data. In general, it is expected that high alpine glaciers in the Colorado Rockies will disappear as the climate continues to warm. Photo by Santa Fe National Forest (National Interagency Fire Center on flickr, public domain). Cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Yuma, and Palm Springs have average highs over 100 F (38 C) during the summer months and lows in the 70s or even 80s. Spring- The spring in the Southwest region is cool. Onion Creek salt diapir, a salt dome exposed at the surface at Fisher Towers, Utah. Recent warming within the Southwest has been among the most rapid in the United States, and models predict that the area's climate will continue to warm. Climate at a glance. Photo of USNM P 38052 by Frederic Cochard (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, public domain). Used under a Creative Commons license. The book was adapted for the web by Elizabeth J. Hermsen, Jonathan R. Hendricks, and Ingrid Zabel in 2022. The Great Plains receive warm, moist air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico, and cold, dry air moving in from the Rocky Mountains and the northern U.S. Where these air masses meet, vigorous mixing causes thunderstorms. Utahs distance from both the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico prevents heavy precipitation, and much of the state is typically sunny year-round, with light to moderate winds. Answer: Winter, June, July, and August. These increased temperatures lead to a whole host of other effects, including a decrease in snowpack, declines in river flow, drier soils from more evaporation, and the increased likelihood of drought and fires. Of the southwestern states, Arizona emits the most greenhouse gases, releasing 92.5 million metric tons of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2019. Glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere occurred during the late Devonian, while the supercontinent Gondwana was located over the South Pole, and intensified during the early Carboniferous. Carbon dioxide emissions in Arizona rose through the last three decades of the 20th century and reached a peak in 2008. Large lakes covered parts of northern Utah and Colorado. Photograph by Bill Morrow (Flickr;Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license). Ordovician deposits across the Southwest indicate warm, shallow seas rich in invertebrate life. (Going forward, to avoid having to say northwestern Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico over and over, Ill refer to this area as the monsoon region.). Map of the modern Yucatn Peninsula region showing the location of the Chicxulub impact crater. These deposits, including the Navajo Sandstone, are responsible for spectacular scenery in the national parks and recreation areas of northernmost Arizona and southern Utah. Figure by Climate.gov. Scale bar = 1 centimeter (about 0.4 inches). Photos of YPM IP 529539 by Jessica Utrup, 2015 (Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History/YPM,CC0 1.0 Universal/Public Domain Dedication, viaGBIF.org). Copyright 2021 Paleontological Research Institution. Copyright 2021 Paleontological Research Institution. With the start of the Paleozoic era, climates across the world were warm, and North America was located in the low and warmer latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Burning those fossil fuels releases carbon into the atmosphere, which warms the Earth. Unfortunately, unpredictable winds spread the flames, which, combined with dry conditions, caused the Calf Canyon and Hermit Peak fires to grow beyond control. Cycads are a group of seed plants that look superficially similar to palms, but are not closely related to them and do not produce flowers. Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. All rights reserved. A strong temperature difference at different heights creates instability. The Southwest has a very unique culture, climate, and geography. Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Northwestern Mexico receives upwards of 75% of its average annual precipitation from it, and Arizona and New Mexico more than 50%, during JulySeptember. Soil moisture, ground water, and streamflow are part of Drought Monitor calculations (Figure 2), and they are all sensitive to human activities. Left:Jaw with teeth. Left photoandright photofrom NPS, courtesy David Bustos (public domain). Climate.gov image of original from Albuquerque, NM National Weather Service office. JulyAugust rainfall anomaly averaged over North American Monsoon region for every year 19502019 (y-axis) versus Nio-3.4 index (x-axis). Data source: NOAA, 20212Web update: April2021. Droughts also contribute to increased pest outbreaks and wildfires, both of which damage local economies, and they reduce the amount of water available for generating electricityfor example, at the Hoover Dam.1. Earth 300 million years ago, during the end of the Carboniferous Period (Pennsylvanian). Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 2011. Ornithopod-type tracks, Powell Fossil Track Block Tracksite, Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah. Dry air is shown in orange. The Wave, a series of intersecting U-shaped troughs eroded into Jurassic NavajoSandstone within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona. Photo by Eltiempo10 (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image resized). Modified from illustrations by Wade Greenberg-Brand originally published inThe Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Earth Science of the SouthwesternUS. Brown indicates where precipitation has been less than average; green is greater than average. The formation of precipitation also causes electrical charging of particles in the atmosphere, which in turn produces lightning. The world warmed, and would stay warm through the Mesozoic. Left:Lake Bonneville's maximal extent during the Pleistocene. While most of the evidence for cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary comes from the deep sea, fossil mammals in the Rocky Mountains show clear evidence of a change from forests to grasslands, which is associated with global cooling. The supercontinent was split by spreading along the mid-Atlantic ridge, initiating the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Some earlier studies suggested that El Nio may be related to lower JulyAugust rainfall, and La Nia related to higher rainfall, due to large-scale atmospheric circulation changes. The new dry-land isthmus blocked the warm ocean currents that had been flowing east-to-west from the Atlantic to the Pacific for more than 100 million years, diverting them into the Gulf of Mexico and ultimately into the western Atlantic Gulf Stream. 2021. The daily range between maximum and minimum temperatures sometimes runs as much as 50 to 60 degrees F during the drier periods of the year. As of June 2022, it was more than 90% contained. Not really sure if it's possible to even find that rabbit hole let alone getting to the end of it :) Good luck. Summer rains fall almost entirely during brief but intense thunderstorms on the Great Plains, although the occasional hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico may push heavier precipitation inland. Precipitation forms. Some areas were more than2F warmer than average (see Figure 1). North America and Europe are part of Laurasia, and South America and Africa are part of Gondwana. Scale bar = 5 centimeters (about 2 inches). The inset image is a shaded relief image that shows the edge of the crater on the Yucatn Peninsula with sinkholes in the rock surrounding it. Drought continues to be quite severe over the southern Plains in Texas and Oklahoma due to hot and dry conditions. Some areas were more than 2F warmer than average (see Figure 1). Changes in atmospheric pressure during the late fall and winter can lead to an accumulation of haze. Also, these favourable weather conditions usually occur more. Lake Powell, the lake created by Glen Canyon Dam, at two points in time about four years apart. 1. Notice that North America has separated from Africa and there is a spreading center in the Central Atlantic Ocean. Pangaea began to break up during the Jurassic, rifting apart into continents that would drift toward their modern-day positions. Southwestern states are stepping up their use and production of renewable energy. Stages in the formation of a thunderstorm. In the middle Cretaceous, oceans covered most of the Southwest, with the exception of parts of Arizona and New Mexico. The thunderstorm begins. An increased frost-free season length also leads to increased water demands for agriculture and heat stress on plants. Image adapted from an image by Scenarios for Climate Assessment and Adaptation, first published in The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Earth Science of the Southwestern US. In winter, rising temperatures have increased the number of frost-free days. That's at least one part of a very big climate puzzle crossing that barrier that involves both the ocean and atmosphere. Seems likely that conditions in the GM may influence annual variations in the monsoon. The ENSO blog is written, edited, and moderated by Michelle LHeureux (NOAA Climate Prediction Center), Emily Becker (University of Miami/CIMAS), Nat Johnson (NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory), and Tom DiLiberto and Rebecca Lindsey (contractors to NOAA Climate Program Office), with periodic guest contributors. A deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) in Portal, Arizona, 2004. Center:As warm air rises, cool air sinks. The reasons for this are complex and involve a combination factors. Precipitation has become more variable from year to year, and heavy downpours across the U.S. have increased in the last 20 years. USA 107(50):2125621262. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (ARPML-250637-OMLS-22).The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. When you take an already highly variable phenomenon like rainfall, add in uncertain regional climate change impacts, and factor in the sparse data record, it gets difficult to make a strong case about exactly how the monsoon rainfall is changing. These changes include the following: The seasonality and transmission frequency of insect-borne diseases and other infectious diseases prevalent in the Southwest, including plague, valley fever, and Hanta, are influenced by warming trends. PRI's free resource to help you learn about the Earth and its history. A large, low-latitude desert formed along Pangaea's western margin, generating extensive dune deposits. Convective mixing forces the moisture in warm air to condense as it comes into contact with cool air, forming vapor (clouds) and precipitation (for example, rain or hail). Credits: Most of the text on this page comes from "Climate of the Southwestern US" by Ingrid H. H. Zabel, Judith T. Parrish, and Andrielle N. Swaby, chapter 8 in The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Earth Science of the Southwestern US, edited by Andrielle N. Swaby, Mark D. Lucas, and Robert M. Ross (published in 2016 by the Paleontological Research Institution; currently out of print). At the very end of the Cretaceous, the Gulf Coast experienced an enormous disruption when a large asteroid or bolide collided with Earth in what is now the northern Yucatn Peninsula in Mexico. Brown indicates areas where experts forecast drought will persist or worsen. Also extreme dryness which means days & weeks on end without rain. These changes to rain and snow-pack are already stressing water sources and affecting agriculture. In New Mexico, for example, the average difference between the daily high and low temperatures ranges from 14 to 19C (25 to 35F). Other elements involved in the ignition and growth of fires and the risks they pose to people living in the Southwest include (but are not limited to) forest management practices, development patterns, and human behavior (intentionally or unintentionally starting fires). Unless otherwise indicated, text and images on this website have Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licenses. It smoldered beneath the ground as a dormant holdover, sleeper, or zombie fire until April, when it flared up and grew into a wildfire, an almost unprecedented occurrence in the Southwest. contiguous U.S. (CONUS) into the Northern Plains. Shelly sandstones in Utah represent vast tidal flats. However, while the effect of warming on the storms is uncertain, temperatures have been increasing. The risk of dangerous wildfires is currently very high in parts of the Southwest. Shallow seaways spread over many of the continents, including South America, Africa, Eurasia, and North America. [7] Pion pines are very drought tolerant and have survived dry periods in the past. Temperatures in the southwest region average greater than states up North, because there isn't as much water vapor in upper level winds to screen direct sunlight. See the Drought indicator for more information about these indices. Another factor besides latitude and elevation that influences temperature in the Southwest is its arid climate. Southwest Asia is a region of diverse climates and is generally divided into three main climate types: arid, semiarid, and temperate. The average precipitation for the United States is 85.6 centimeters (33.7 inches). Dry conditions are common throughout the Great Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Basin and Range. Before the Isthmus closed, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were connected. The map in Figure 1 shows how average annual temperatures in the Southwest from 2000 to 2020differed from the average over the entire period since widespread temperature records became available (18952020). These are blog posts, not official agency communications; if you quote from these posts or from the comments section, you should attribute the quoted material to the blogger or commenter, not to NOAA, CPC, or Climate.gov. More on that later Now, lets take a sojourn through some North American Monsoon basics (1). For many of us, the word monsoon conjures images of heavy rain lasting for months. For example, parts of the Colorado Rockies experience cool annual temperatures and over 8 meters (25 feet) of snowfall every year, while the dry deserts in southwestern Arizona receive only about 8 centimeters (3 inches) of precipitation a year and can experience as much as a 15C (60F) degree temperature difference between night and day. One controversial hypothesis proposes that an area of western Coloradoone of the islands that dotted the early Carboniferous seawas, in fact, glaciated. Sprawling development of Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the Sonoran Desert, 2009. A major contributing factor to this event was a geological change that occurred far to the south. The cycling layers in thesandstone represent changes in the direction of prevailing winds as large sand dunes migratedacross the desert. The warmest temperatures in the Southwest are found in Arizona and New Mexico, while the coolest are found in Utah and Colorado. There is a rich marine fossil record from the areas between these islands. Photos by Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory (used following NASA's image use policy). Taken on September 23, 2017. Dark gray is land, white and light gray are submerged areas. Nighttime winter temperatures in the desert can drop slightly below freezing. temperatures from Washington and northern Oregon along the northern tier of the. Since the early 1900s, the Southwest has experienced wetter conditions during three main periods: the 1900s, 1940s, and 1980s.