Figure by climate.gov; data from CPC Unified data. 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. Winter precipitation often involves large-scale frontal systems. Asia, Climate of Southwest | SpringerLink Climate Impacts in the Southwest | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA Brown indicates areas where experts forecast drought will persist or worsen. Drought outlook for the Lower 48 U.S. states in August 2022. Cambrian trilobites from the Bright Angel Shale (Tonto Group), Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. 94, 95, 96 Each assessment has consistently identified drought, water shortages, and loss of ecosystem integrity as major challenges that the Southwest confronts under climate change. 830 AM EST Thu Feb 16 2023. 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. 2010. During winter months, daytime temperatures may average 70 degrees F, with night temperatures often falling to freezing of slightly below in the lower desert valleys." Here, oases with large trees, large colonies of burrowing animals, and reptile trackways punctuated the otherwise dry and sandy landscape. This map shows how the average air temperature from 2000 to 2020has differed from the long-term average (18952020). 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. Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration. 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. This section covers the climate of the southwestern U.S. through the Phanerozoic, from about 541 million years ago to the recent. This feature focuses on six states that are commonly thought of as southwestern and characterized at least in part by arid landscapes and scarce water supplies: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Monsoon region averaged over all land gridpoints, 20N37N, 102W115W. (2015) . Right (2):Crown of leaves from a mature plant. Wind moves the air, promoting mixing. Rainfall, as anyone who has read the ENSO Blog before will know, is an extremely complicated thing to predict! The warm, arid Southwest region presents extreme challenges to turf grasses in low- and high-desert climates. Data for Figure 2 were provided by the National Drought Mitigation Center. There is a rich marine fossil record from the areas between these islands. USA 107(50):2125621262. Right:Graph of the lake's changing level over time. Center:As warm air rises, cool air sinks. Left (1):Leaves of a seedling. Record high temperatures for the Southwest range from 53C (128F) in Arizona to 47C (117F) in Utah, while record low temperatures range from 56C (69F) in Utah to 40C (40F) in Arizona. While the state is generally arid, its high western mountains experience more precipitation each year than the desert southwest and the high northeastern plateau do. In southern New Mexico, Pleistocene fossil mammals are found that now live at higher elevations in the mountains of northern New Mexico, indicating cooler temperatures and more available moisture in the area during the late Pleistocene. Reconstruction created using basemap from the. The Sonoran Desert is located in southwestern Arizona and adjacent regions of California and Mexico. This led to global cooling and dropping global sea levels. Positive values represent wetter-than-average conditions, while negative values represent drier-than-average conditions. Water, climate change, and sustainability in the Southwest. 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. Climate.gov image of original from Albuquerque, NM National Weather Service office. However, although climate change is predicted to enhance the intensity of severe weather, there is currently no way to calculate what effect climate change will have on the frequency of specific storm eventsfor example, we might see more powerful tornados, but we do not know if we will see more of them. During the Permian, shallow marine waters gave way to lowland coastal areas across portions of the Southwest. Hey! All rights reserved. Precipitation accumulation over the past 12 months, shown as a percent of the average mid-August through mid-August total. 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. Left:A petrified stump. Photo by Kenneth Carpenter (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped and resized). Changes in atmospheric pressure during the late fall and winter can lead to an accumulation of haze. Left photoandright photoby NPS/Michael Quinn (Grand Canyon National Park via flickr,Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, images cropped and resized). Sprawling development of Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the Sonoran Desert, 2009. The lack of moisture in the air allows heat trapped in the earth during daylight hours to rapidly radiate away, leading to cool evenings. The Southwest experiences nearly every variety of extreme weather; heat snaps and cold waves, droughts, floods, blizzards, and even tornados are all considerations for residents of the southwestern states. Deer mice are the most important rodent carriers of hantavirus in the Southwest. National Drought Mitigation Center. In New Mexico, for example, average annual precipitation ranges from less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) within the Great Plains and Basin and Range regions to more than 50 centimeters (20 inches) at the higher elevations to the northwest. 2. 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. Water is already scarce in the Southwest, so every drop is a precious resource. 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). Environmental Definitions of the Southwest - nps.gov Published June 22, 2021 Updated Aug. 23, 2022. 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. By comparison, the average high and low temperatures for the entire United States are 17C (63F) and 5C (41F), respectively. 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. 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. Photo by James St. John (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image resized). An increased frost-free season length also leads to increased water demands for agriculture and heat stress on plants. Photo by James St. John (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license). Today, most of the Southwest experiences about 17 fewer freezing days than it did over the last century. 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. Light precipitation travels eastward over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains after dropping heavy snowfall in areas of high elevation. Fig. | View Google Privacy Policy. It depends where you are! North America's position near the equator kept its climate relatively warm. 2021. 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. A major contributing factor to this event was a geological change that occurred far to the south. Despite the monsoon rainfall this year, much of the region is still in a precipitation deficit. As a result of displacement due to continental rifting and seafloor spreading, sea level throughout the Cretaceous was much higher than it is today. Changes include formatting and revisions to the text and images. Climate of the Southwestern United States Earth@Home Extent of the Western Interior Seaway during the Cretaceous Period. Winter- The winter in the Southwest region is mild, and hot. These changes to rain and snow-pack are already stressing water sources and affecting agriculture. The cities of Aspen and Lafayette, Colorado, as well as the state of New Mexico, were early adopters of the 2030 Challenge, an effort to reduce fossil fuel use in buildings so that both new and renovated buildings would qualify as carbon neutral by the year 2030. Large lakes formed in low areas, and the Southwests most striking ice age feature was Lake Bonneville, a massive pluvial lake that covered much of Utah. The current drought outlooks expect that the drought in Arizona and New Mexico will improve in the short term, but persist. Lower latitudes receive more heat from the sun over the course of a year; for each degree increase in latitude, there is approximately a 1C (2F) decrease in temperature. 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. The Southwest's overall average high temperature of 19.2C (66.6F) and average low of 2.8C (37.0F) are indicative of a varied climate, one much less uniform than that found in many other parts of the United States. As the summer heat builds over North America, a region of high pressure forms over the U.S. Southwest, and the wind becomes more southerly, bringing moisture from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. Kppen climate map of the 48 contiguous states of the continental United States. Average yearly tornado watches in each county of the United States between 1993 and 2012. 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. Images by Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory (used following NASA's image use policy). In general, places in the east and south of the UK tend to be drier, warmer, sunnier and less windy than those further west and north. Higher atmospheric moisture content has also been correlated with an increased incidence of tornados and winter storms. Convection occurs when buoyant warm air rises (moves up) while denser cool air sinks (moves down). Every part of the Southwest experienced higher average temperatures between 2000 and 2020than the long-term average (18952020). Map of the Gulf of Mexico region before the closure of the Isthmus of Panama. Taken on August 15, 2016. The better known of these wet seasons is the summer monsoon, which lasts from about mid-June to early September. Thick salt deposits accumulated in the northwestern Four Corners area as the seas evaporated. Historic data from Livneh et al. Trees killed by bark beetles at Cameron Pass, Colorado, 2011. The Southwest has a very unique culture, climate, and geography. 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 warmer the air near the surface is relative to the air above it, the more potential energy it has to move up. Accessed March2021. www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag. The reasons for this are complex and involve a combination factors. (Prescribed burns are an important forest management tool; they are used to consume fuels like dry wood that can ignite and feed wildfires as well as maintain forest health.) Accessed March 2021. https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/DataTables.aspx. In a broad sense, the Southwests climate is mostly dry and hot, with much of the region characterized as arid. Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management (flickr, public domain). Accessed March 2021. www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag. Wind moves the air, promoting mixing. Figure by Ingrid Zabel for PRI's [emailprotected] project (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license). Seems likely that conditions in the GM may influence annual variations in the monsoon. The impact vaporized both water and rock, blocking out sunlight for weeks to years, which led to a collapse of photosynthesis and food webs on land and in the oceans. Acad. 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. In the late Ordovician (about 460 to 430 million years ago), the Earth fell into another brief but intense ice age. Photos by Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory (used following NASA's image use policy). Summer temperatures on the South Rim, at 7000 feet (2134 meters), are especially pleasant from 50 to about 85 F (10s to 20s C). A strong difference in air temperature at different heights creates instability; the warmer the air near the surface is relative to the air above it, the more potential (stored) energy the warm air has to move up, and the more potential for a storm. Percent of total annual precipitation occurring during JulySeptember, based on 19792020 using CPC Unified rain-gauge-based data. Storms form when there is strong convection in the atmosphere. In the Silurian and Devonian (430 to 359 million years ago), North America moved north across the equator, and the cycle of warming and cooling was repeated yet again. Left:Jaw with teeth. Photo by Archaeopoda (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, image cropped, resized, and labeled). Soil moisture, ground water, and streamflow are part of Drought Monitor calculations (Figure 2), and they are all sensitive to human activities. In fact, this monsoon may turn out to be the wettest on record for some places! Submitted by rebecca.lindsey on Thu, 09/30/2021 - 10:13. Northwestern Mexico receives upwards of 75% of its average annual precipitation from it, and Arizona and New Mexico more than 50%, during JulySeptember. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. 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. Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 2011. Roadcut exposing lake sediments of the Eocene Green River Formation, Duchesne County, Utah. Funnel clouds (developing tornadoes) over El Paso County, Colorado, March 29, 2019. What is the weather like in the Southwest region in summer? The last glacial advance of the modern ice age peaked some 18,000 years ago. 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. Climate Change in the Southwest - Potential Impacts - National Park Service Cumbres in the San Juan Mountains receives nearly 7.6 meters (300 inches) of snowfall annually, while Manassa, less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) away in the San Luis Valley, receives only about 63 centimeters (25 inches) of snow a year. Rugose corals or horn corals (Turbophyllum) from the Mississippian Great Blue Limestone, Cache Canyon, northern Utah, near the border between the Basin and Range and Rocky Mountain physiographic provinces. Paleontological Research Institution Special Publication 38, Ithaca, NY, 200 pp. Every part of the Southwest experienced higher average temperatures between 2000 and 2020 than the long-term average (1895-2020). Typically, a storm blows itself out once the warm air has moved up and the cool air has moved down. JulyAugust rainfall anomaly averaged over North American Monsoon region for every year 19502019 (y-axis) versus Nio-3.4 index (x-axis). 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. Loess is often, though not exclusively, associated with dry areas around glaciers. Summer heat waves will become hotter and longer, while winter cold snaps will occur less often. Its not over yet, but possible that the overall monsoon rainfall in Arizona will end up being the highest on record. According to the Kppen classification system, a system of climate classification using latitude band and degree of continentality as its primary forcing factors, Central Asia is a predominantly B-type climate regime. That's at least one part of a very big climate puzzle crossing that barrier that involves both the ocean and atmosphere. Southwestern states are stepping up their use and production of renewable energy. All rights reserved. Modified fromFigure 11 in Kirby et al. 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).
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