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A major contributing factor to this event was a geological change that occurred far to the south. 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. Submitted by rebecca.lindsey on Thu, 09/30/2021 - 10:13. Alaska weather and daylight varies wildly by region and season, from short-sleeves in summer to down jackets in winter; from 7 rainy days in May in Southcentral to 17 rainy days in the Inside Passage. Water, climate change, and sustainability in the Southwest. Photo by Eltiempo10 (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image resized). Cattle ranches throughout the southwestern states rely on rain-fed grazing forage, making them extremely susceptible to climate change and drought. Across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, summer rains originate from moisture brought into the area from the Gulf of Mexico. Topics covered on this page: Present climate of the southwestern U.S.; Present temperature; Present precipitation; Severe weather; Regional climate variation; Past climate of the southwestern U.S.; Paleozoic; Mesozoic; Cenozoic; Future climate of the southwestern U.S.; Resources. 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 warming conditions alone can be impactful, drying out soils quicker during breaks in monsoon rainfall, for example (2). The Palmer Index is calculated from precipitation and temperature measurements at weather stations, and has been used widely for many years. The book was adapted for the web by Elizabeth J. Hermsen, Jonathan R. Hendricks, and Ingrid Zabel in 2022. temperatures from Washington and northern Oregon along the northern tier of the. As the Cambrian progressed, North America moved northward, and what would become much of the southwestern U.S. was located near the Tropic of Capricorn. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 2021. Left:Trilobites identified asDolichometoppus productusandAlokistocare althea. In the late Ordovician (about 460 to 430 million years ago), the Earth fell into another brief but intense ice age. According to the photographer, the largest stones were 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters (0.6 to 1 inch) size. Onion Creek salt diapir, a salt dome exposed at the surface at Fisher Towers, Utah. The event devastated the Southwest, shifting a densely forested landscape to one primarily covered with fast-growing herbs and ferns. Page snapshot:Introduction to the climate of the southwestern United States, including present, past, and future climate. 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. Pacific storms lose most of their moisture as they pass over the Rocky Mountains, so much of the Southwest's winter precipitation falls as snow within the areas mountainous regions. Monsoon rainfall activity tends to be grouped into bursts, with periods of rainy days interspersed with drier periods, rather than rain every day. After the end-Cretaceous bolide impact, the climate may have cooled briefly, but it soon rebounded to a warmer state. The current drought outlooks expect that the drought in Arizona and New Mexico will improve in the short term, but persist. Photo by Center for Land Use Interpretation(Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license, image resized). Data source: NOAA, 20212Web update: April2021. Ive summarized their conclusions above, and include the quotes here, but I suggest you head over to the full science report if youre in the mood for some specifics. Global temperatures during the Cretaceous were very warm, as much as 10C (18F) above those at present. (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. Warmer temperatures also make it easier for insect pests to overwinter and produce more generations. The Southwest, already the driest region in the United States, has become even drier since the mid-20th century, particularly on the hottest days . 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). Data source: NOAA, 20214Web update: April2021, Key Points | Background | About the Data | Technical Documentation. | View Google Privacy Policy. 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. In a broad sense, the Southwests climate is mostly dry and hot, with much of the region characterized as arid. 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. 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. Temperature and drought data come from a network of thousands of weather stations overseen by the National Weather Service. During much of the year, the prevailing wind over northwestern Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico is westerly (blowing from the west) and dry. Like the Inside Passage, the weather in Southwest Alaska is heavily influenced by ocean currents and maritime conditions. By early to mid-September, wind patterns have generally reverted back to the westerly pattern, bringing an end to the monsoon. Changes include formatting and revisions to the text and images. 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. Shiprock is part of the San Juan volcanic field and dates to the Oligocene (about 27 million years ago). As the Triassic period began, the Southwest moved north from the equator. Likewise, its not yet clear how the monsoon is changing in the warming climate, or how it will in the future. Copyright 2021 Paleontological Research Institution. This chart shows the percentage of land area in six southwestern states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) classified under drought conditions from 2000 through 2020. The Southwest has a hot desert climate, at lower elevations. Dry conditions are common throughout the Great Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Basin and Range. Climate at a glance. Higher atmospheric moisture content has also been correlated with an increased incidence of tornados and winter storms. The North American Monsoon is a seasonal change in the atmospheric circulation that occurs as the summer sun heats the continental land mass. The desert experiences large temperature extremes, especially between day and night; daily temperature may change as much as 15C (60F) during the driest parts of the year. These deposits, including the Navajo Sandstone, are responsible for spectacular scenery in the national parks and recreation areas of northernmost Arizona and southern Utah. Forecasts had all of this widespread flash flooding. Image above: Sun and storm in Weld County, in the Great Plains region of Colorado, 2015. The Southwest has a very unique culture, climate, and geography. 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. Allmon, W. D., T. A. Smrecak, and R. M. Ross. The formation of precipitation also causes electrical charging of particles in the atmosphere, which in turn produces lightning. Hey! Scale bar = 1 centimeter (about 0.4 inches). Glaciers covered most of the world's southern landmasses, which were located over the South Pole. Four of western North America's major watersheds lie within its boundaries: the Colorado River basin, the Rio Grande basin, the Sacramento-San Joaquin watershed, and most of the Great Basin. 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. At the close of the Mesozoic, global climatealthough warmer than todaywas cooler than at the start of the era. Left photoandright photofrom NPS, courtesy David Bustos (public domain). Since 800,000 years ago, an equilibrium has been reached between warming and cooling, with the ice caps growing and retreating primarily due to the influence of astronomical forces (i.e., the combined gravitational effects of the Earth, Sun, moon, and planets). Approximately 3.5 million years ago, glacial ice began to form over the Arctic Ocean and on the northern parts of North America and Eurasia. Large portions of the Southwest have experienced drought conditions since weekly Drought Monitor records began in 2000. 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. Declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns. Southwestern states are stepping up their use and production of renewable energy. 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. Summer temperatures on the South Rim, at 7000 feet (2134 meters), are especially pleasant from 50 to about 85 F (10s to 20s C). 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). 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. Ordovician deposits across the Southwest indicate warm, shallow seas rich in invertebrate life. Left:Lake Bonneville's maximal extent during the Pleistocene. Official websites use .gov 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. Photo by Jeffrey Beall (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, image resized). JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. The continued growth of Pangaea created an intense monsoonal climate, similar to that of Asia today, that affected large parts of the continent. Climate at a glance. The causes of specific weather events such as tornados and severe thunderstorms are incredibly complex, although climate change has enhanced some correlated factors, such as increased wind speed and an unstable atmosphere. Lake Mead, the lake created by the Hoover Dam, at two points in time about 21 years apart. Photo by James St. John (flickr,Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized). A value between -2 and -3 indicates moderate drought, -3 to -4 is severe drought, and -4 or below indicates extreme drought. 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. Modified from illustrations by Wade Greenberg-Brand originally published inThe Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Earth Science of the SouthwesternUS. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). These changes threaten economic productivity, public health, and the sustainability of Indigenous communities.