southwest region climate in summer

A crinoid (Ibexocrinus lepton) from the Ordovician Kanosh Shale, Millard County, Utah. 2021. The warmest temperatures in the Southwest are found in Arizona and New Mexico, while the coolest are found in Utah and Colorado. Positive values represent wetter-than-average conditions, while negative values represent drier-than-average conditions. ; Precipitation was above-average across portions of the Great Basin and Southwest, from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes and across much of the eastern U.S. Mississippi had its wettest summer on record with Alabama, Michigan, New York and Massachusetts . NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 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. A car with a windshield damaged by hailstones, Limon, Colorado, 2010. Northwestern Mexico receives upwards of 75% of its average annual precipitation from it, and Arizona and New Mexico more than 50%, during JulySeptember. In winter, daily temperatures in the southwest are cooler with highs in the 50s and 60s F, and lows in . These oases were fed by groundwater that originated in the higher country of what is now western Colorado. Increased heat in the Pacific Ocean has altered the weather patterns of Pacific storms, decreasing snowfall in the mountains of western Utah and Arizona. Agua Caliente solar farm, Maricopa County, Arizona. A Closer Look: Temperature and Drought in the Southwest In winter, rising temperatures have increased the number of frost-free days. Photo by Dr. David Goodrich, NOAA (NOAA Photo Library ID wea04192, NOAA's National Weather Service, via flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized). And yet another element of the monsoon system that needs more study to resolve. Lake Mead, the lake created by the Hoover Dam, at two points in time about 21 years apart. However, while the effect of warming on the storms is uncertain, temperatures have been increasing. Winter- The winter in the Southwest region is mild, and hot. All rights reserved. Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration. I did a quick comparison of the average JulyAugust rainfall in the monsoon region with the Nio-3.4 index, using 70 years of records. Global temperatures during the Cretaceous were very warm, as much as 10C (18F) above those at present. Zack and Mike mention that last year was an extremely dry monsoon, and this year is extremely wet. Drier days and higher temperatures will amplify evaporation, increasing the desertification of already arid areas and affecting natural ecosystems as well as increasing pressure on the water supply for agriculture and cities. There was likely little or no glacial ice anywhere on Earth, and temperatures were highest in lower latitudes. Data source: NOAA, 20214Web update: April2021, Key Points | Background | About the Data | Technical Documentation. In the latest Cretaceous, sea level dropped again and the western Southwest became a broad coastal plain that hosted lush forests, abundant dinosaurs, and large swamps. As average temperatures rise and the Southwest becomes drier with a longer annual fire season (season conducive to the ignition and spread of wildfires), the number and intensity of wildfires is expected to increase. As Pangaea reached its greatest size during the early Triassic, the monsoons intensity increased, and the vast dune deserts of the late Permian were replaced by rivers and floodplains. This chapter builds on assessments of climate change in the Southwest region from the three previous U.S. National Climate Assessments. The book was adapted for the web by Elizabeth J. Hermsen, Jonathan R. Hendricks, and Ingrid Zabel in 2022. Thanks to the region's high temperatures and low precipitation levels from summer 2020 through summer 2021, the current drought has exceeded the severity of a late-1500s megadrought that previously had been identified by the same authors as the driest in 1,200 years. Yet this landscape actually supports a vast array of plants and animals, along with millions of people who call the Southwest home. Accessed March2021. www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag. Climate changepast, present & future: a very short guide. During the Paleocene to Eocene, the Southwests climate was warm and wet, and large mammals roamed the forested landscape. Copyright 2021 Paleontological Research Institution. A major contributing factor to this event was a geological change that occurred far to the south. Ornithopod-type tracks, Powell Fossil Track Block Tracksite, Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah. PRI is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Kppen climate map of the 48 contiguous states of the continental United States. The formation of precipitation also causes electrical charging of particles in the atmosphere, which in turn produces lightning. MacDonald, G.M. February 2023 ENSO update: the ENSO Blog investigates, part 3, How the pattern of trends across the tropical Pacific Ocean is critical for understanding the future climate, January 2023 La Nia update, and the ENSO Blog investigates, part 2, Albuquerque, NM National Weather Service office, ENSO does influence Pacific tropical storms, Tucson recorded its wettest month ever this July, Monsoon causes deadly flash flood in Arizona, Images of CO2 emissions and transport from the Vulcan project, TreeFlow: Streamflow Reconstructions from Tree Rings. Light precipitation travels eastward over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains after dropping heavy snowfall in areas of high elevation. 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. Source:FEMA National Risk Index. This page uses Google Analytics. Dry air is shown in orange. Average annual temperatures for the southwestern U.S. Its remnant exists today as the Great Salt Lake. The elevation of Bear Lake is about 2880 meters (9450 feet). Explore how climate change is affecting the Southwest. While thats often the situation for the Indian monsoon, the monsoon in North America behaves a bit differently. Wildfire risk map for the United States. That's at least one part of a very big climate puzzle crossing that barrier that involves both the ocean and atmosphere. Winter precipitation often involves large-scale frontal systems. All of these plants, animals, and people need water to survive. Glaciers covered most of the world's southern landmasses, which were located over the South Pole. The Southwest is typically dry, hot, and humid. A value between -2 and -3 indicates moderate drought, -3 to -4 is severe drought, and -4 or below indicates extreme drought. As the Triassic period began, the Southwest moved north from the equator. (3) There is a whole lot of interesting detail in this reportabout everything, but about the North American Monsoon specifically. Notice that North America has separated from Africa and there is a spreading center in the Central Atlantic Ocean. 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. An official website of the United States government. Zack also mentioned our good friend El Nio! Winds and waves shape the landscape, and rain showers support lush vegetation. By comparison, the average high and low temperatures for the entire United States are 17C (63F) and 5C (41F), respectively. Used under a Creative Commons license. The Wave, a series of intersecting U-shaped troughs eroded into Jurassic NavajoSandstone within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona. Photo by Daniel Mayer (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, image resized). Soils associated with these floodplains testify to the extreme seasonality of rainfall during that time. Data from Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) and ERSSTv5. In the podcast episode 2021a generational monsoon? Zack listed some of the factors that influence how much moisture is available to the monsoon, including the position of the high-pressure area, wind patterns, and transient weather features. Petrified log at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Jurassic Morrison Formation, Garfield County, Utah. During this time, the only exposed areas were islands in western Colorado and parts of New Mexico. The March-April-May (MAM) 2023 temperature outlook favors below-normal. Cold continental conditions dominate the higher altitudes, especially within the Rocky Mountains. Branches and leaves of an ancient conifer (Walchia dawsonii), Permian Hermit Shale, Arizona. Monsoon rainfall activity tends to be grouped into bursts, with periods of rainy days interspersed with drier periods, rather than rain every day. Home Regions Southwest Key Points: The formation of precipitation also causes electrical charging of particles in the atmosphere, which in turn produces lightning. The Southwest, already the driest region in the United States, has become even drier since the mid-20th century, particularly on the hottest days . Across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, summer rains originate from moisture brought into the area from the Gulf of Mexico. Ordovician deposits across the Southwest indicate warm, shallow seas rich in invertebrate life. Because high mountains to the west and north act as a barrier to cold Arctic air masses, most areas of Utah rarely experience temperatures below freezing or prolonged periods of extreme cold. Layers of gypsum, an evaporate, from the Permian Castile Formation, Eddy County, New Mexico. Photo by Stefan Klein (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped and resized). The American Southwest might evoke images of a hot, dry landscapea land of rock, canyons, and deserts baked by the sun. USA 107(50):2125621262. Introduction The overall climate of the Southwestits weather patterns over a long period of timetends to be warm and dry. Water, climate change, and sustainability in the Southwest. 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. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS August 2021 National Climate Report | National Centers for In New Mexico, climate is characterized by arid, semiarid, or continental conditions, with light precipitation, low humidity, and abundant sunshine. 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). The better known of these wet seasons is the summer monsoon, which lasts from about mid-June to early September. The white arrow is pointing to one of the leaflets of a compound leaf. In the Southwest, average precipitation ranges from only 34 centimeters (13.4 inches) in Utah to 39.9 centimeters (15.7 inches) in Colorado, which reflects the area's general aridity. Raucous summer thunderstorms characteristic of the monsoon season are spotty, while drizzly winter storms last longer and engulf large portions of the region. Precipitation has become more variable from year to year, and heavy downpours across the U.S. have increased in the last 20 years. Deer mice are the most important rodent carriers of hantavirus in the Southwest. By the late Carboniferous, North America had collided with Gondwana, leading to the formation of Pangaeaa supercontinent composed of nearly all the landmass on Earth. Higher atmospheric moisture content has also been correlated with an increased incidence of tornados and winter storms. This circulation brings thunderstorms and rainfall to the monsoon region, providing much of their annual total precipitation. As of 2010, bark beetles in Arizona and New Mexico have affected more than twice the forest area burned by wildfires in those states. During the Permian, shallow marine waters gave way to lowland coastal areas across portions of the Southwest. UK regional climates - Met Office Left:Lake Bonneville's maximal extent during the Pleistocene. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Las Cruces, New Mexico, 2006. Skeleton of a juvenileCamarosaurs lentus, a type of sauropod, from the Carnegie Quarry, Jurassic Morrison Formation, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah and Colorado. Here, the states varied topography leads to wide changes in climactic conditions that occur across short distances. 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. See the Drought indicator for more information about these indices. Map by NOAA(public domain) modified for the[emailprotected]project. Before the Isthmus closed, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were connected. Funnel clouds (developing tornadoes) over El Paso County, Colorado, March 29, 2019. Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management (flickr, public domain).