The warm, arid Southwest region presents extreme challenges to turf grasses in low- and high-desert climates. Download related technical information PDF, https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/DataTables.aspx, A Closer Look: Temperature and Drought in the Southwest. The Southwest's Triassic to Jurassic dune deposits are some of the most extensive in the world, and the dune field that existed during the Jurassic may be the largest in Earth history. 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. 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. For example San Diego county has a population of azalea otherwise not seen for hundreds of miles to the north. The full time series for precipitation and temperature values is shown in Figure 2. An increased frost-free season length also leads to increased water demands for agriculture and heat stress on plants. In New Mexico, climate is characterized by arid, semiarid, or continental conditions, with light precipitation, low humidity, and abundant sunshine. Submitted by rebecca.lindsey on Thu, 09/30/2021 - 10:13. However, the Southwest is located between the mid-latitude and subtropical atmospheric circulation regimes, and this positioning relative to shifts in these . The warmer the air near the surface is relative to the air above it, the more potential energy it has to move up. Left (1):Leaves of a seedling. Summer temperatures on the South Rim, at 7000 feet (2134 meters), are especially pleasant from 50 to about 85 F (10s to 20s C). NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin (NASA Earth Observatory,used following NASA's image use policy). This movement of air in different directions is also the reason for the high incidence of powerful tornados that occur along "Tornado Alley" in the Great Plains, which affect eastern New Mexico and especially eastern Colorado. Reconstruction created using basemap from thePALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for GPlatesand the PaleoData Plotter Program, PALEOMAP Project by C. R. Scotese (2016); map annotations by Jonathan R. Hendricks and Elizabeth J. Hermsen for PRI's[emailprotected]project (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0license). 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). 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. 830 AM EST Thu Feb 16 2023. 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. Positive values represent wetter-than-average conditions, while negative values represent drier-than-average conditions. The average annual temperature in most of the Southwest is predicted to rise 2.2 to 5.5C (4 to 10F) by 2100. More on that later Now, lets take a sojourn through some North American Monsoon basics (1). ; 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 . Wind moves the air, promoting mixing. Left:Trilobites identified asDolichometoppus productusandAlokistocare althea. Since then carbon dioxide emissions have been on a downward trend. The Southwest contributes significantly to climate change. 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. Photo source:National Park Service (public domain). 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. Despite the areas arid climate, the dunes were surprisingly full of life, particularly in southeastern Utah. 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. Shelly sandstones in Utah represent vast tidal flats. He pointed out that ENSO does influence Pacific tropical storms, which can supply moisture to the monsoon. Las Cruces, New Mexico, 2006. Petrified log at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Jurassic Morrison Formation, Garfield County, Utah. Monsoon rainfall activity tends to be grouped into bursts, with periods of rainy days interspersed with drier periods, rather than rain every day. Photo by Lane Pearman (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized). At any rate I'd just like to point out a potential clue to your springtime predictability barrier problem. Smog (haze caused by air pollution) over Salt Lake City, Utah, 2016. Cattle ranches throughout the southwestern states rely on rain-fed grazing forage, making them extremely susceptible to climate change and drought. As in Arizona, the desert experiences a large range of temperature on a daily basis. According to the photographer, the largest stones were 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters (0.6 to 1 inch) size. Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report covers observed and potential future changes in the North American Monsoon. Water is already scarce in the Southwest, so every drop is a precious resource. All rights reserved. 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 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. Right:Dolichometoppus productus. 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. Since 1980, tree mortality in forests and woodlands across the Southwest has been higher and more extensive than at any time during the previous 90 years. Scale bar = 5 centimeters (about 2 inches). Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, Scenarios for Climate Assessment and Adaptation, Image by The High Fin Sperm Whale, created from images by NOAA National Weather Service training material (Wikimedia Commons, public domain), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, Modified from a map by Adam Peterson (Wikimedia Commons, Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management (flickr, public domain), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, Photo by Richard Stephen Haynes (Wikimedia Commons, Photo of USNM PAL 165239 by Crinoid Type Project (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, public domain), Photos of YPM IP 529539 by Jessica Utrup, 2015 (Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History/YPM, CC0 1.0 Universal/Public Domain Dedication, Photo of USNM P 38052 by Frederic Cochard (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, public domain), Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license, Cretaceous Atlas of Ancient Life: Western Interior Seaway, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International, Photo of USNM 166396 from the Cretaceous Atlas of Ancient Life, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, Inset image from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PIA03397), Photo by Jeffrey Beall (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, Photo by Kenneth Carpenter (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical 2.0 Generic license, Photo by Center for Land Use Interpretation, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license, Photo by Dr. David Goodrich, NOAA (NOAA Photo Library ID wea04192, NOAA's National Weather Service, via flickr, Images by Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory, Photos by Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory, NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin (NASA Earth Observatory, Photo by Santa Fe National Forest (National Interagency Fire Center on flickr, public domain), https://earthathome.org/de/talk-about-climate/, https://earthathome.org/de/what-is-climate/, https://earthathome.org/de/recent-climate-change/, https://earthathome.org/de/climate-change-mitigation/, https://earthathome.org/de/climate-change-adaptation/, https://earthathome.org/quick-faqs/#climate, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licenses. Scientists first noted the seasonal rainfall patterns in the Southwest in the early 20th century, with the circulation pattern being understood as monsoonal by midcentury. Copyright 2021 Paleontological Research Institution. Warmer temperatures also make it easier for insect pests to overwinter and produce more generations. 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." Some areas were more than 2F warmer than average (see Figure 1). Global temperatures during the Cretaceous were very warm, as much as 10C (18F) above those at present. Rainfall, as anyone who has read the ENSO Blog before will know, is an extremely complicated thing to predict! Changes include formatting and revisions to the text and images. That's at least one part of a very big climate puzzle crossing that barrier that involves both the ocean and atmosphere. Southwest Asia is a region of diverse climates and is generally divided into three main climate types: arid, semiarid, and temperate. Mesohippusmeasured up to 70 centimeters (2 feet) at shoulder height. Photo of USNM PAL 165239 by Crinoid Type Project (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, public domain). Notice that North America has separated from Africa and there is a spreading center in the Central Atlantic Ocean. Large glaciers were found at higher elevations, and temperatures were cool. There were spots that received large amounts of rain, but overall Nora was a bust. Trees killed by bark beetles at Cameron Pass, Colorado, 2011. Map of the modern Yucatn Peninsula region showing the location of the Chicxulub impact crater. Average yearly tornado watches in each county of the United States between 1993 and 2012. The elevation of Bear Lake is about 2880 meters (9450 feet). 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. That timeworn classic is only partially true--May and September can also be great summer months. One especially alarming detail about the Calf Canyon fire is that it was originally set in January 2022. Frequent showers and thunderstorms continue well into the summer. Ornithopod-type tracks, Powell Fossil Track Block Tracksite, Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah. Photo by Stefan Klein (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped and resized). A car with a windshield damaged by hailstones, Limon, Colorado, 2010. Zack also mentioned our good friend El Nio! The main features that influence the areas climate are latitude, regional topography, and a low atmospheric moisture content that leads to quick evaporation. 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. Lake Mead, the lake created by the Hoover Dam, at two points in time about 21 years apart. Snowfall will be below normal in most areas that normally receive snow, with the snowiest periods in early to mid-January and early February. The Southwest relies on the slow melt of mountain snowpack throughout the spring and summer, when water demands are highest. (2011)PLoS ONE3(7): e2791(Creative Commons Attribution license, image reorganized and resized). 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). 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). Fossil plants, Late Cretaceous Fruitland Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. 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. Photos by Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory (used following NASA's image use policy). 2. National Drought Mitigation Center. 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. Raucous summer thunderstorms characteristic of the monsoon season are spotty, while drizzly winter storms last longer and engulf large portions of the region. Studies show that the southwestern states' climate is changing right now and that change has accelerated in the latter part of the 20th century. The impacts of the monsoon go beyond just rainfall amounts. 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. The warmest temperatures in the Southwest are found in Arizona and New Mexico, while the coolest are found in Utah and Colorado. The thicker line is a nine-year weighted average. Left imageandright imageby NickLongrich (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, images cropped and resized). Roadcut exposing lake sediments of the Eocene Green River Formation, Duchesne County, Utah. 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. Photo by Eltiempo10 (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image resized). As the Triassic period began, the Southwest moved north from the equator. It depends where you are! A crinoid (Ibexocrinus lepton) from the Ordovician Kanosh Shale, Millard County, Utah. Southwest Increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks, all linked to climate change, have increased wildfires. Here at the ENSO Blog, were always curious about the role of ENSO (El Nio/Southern Oscillation, the entire El Nio/La Nia system). Center:As warm air rises, cool air sinks. The book was adapted for the web by Elizabeth J. Hermsen, Jonathan R. Hendricks, and Ingrid Zabel in 2022. In fact, this monsoon may turn out to be the wettest on record for some places! North America's position near the equator kept its climate relatively warm. For example, high winter temperatures between 2000 and 2003 correlated to bark beetle outbreaks that devastated pinyon pine throughout the Southwest, leading to nearly 90% mortality at some sites in Colorado and Arizona. Photo by Bigmikebmw (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, image cropped). An ancient horse (Mesohippus),Eocene Florissant Fossil Beds, Teller County, Colorado. The better known of these wet seasons is the summer monsoon, which lasts from about mid-June to early September. 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. Extreme high temperatures. Allmon, W. D., T. A. Smrecak, and R. M. Ross. The rainy season would have been critical for Native Americans for thousands of years, and, for some Native American tribes, continues to be so. Well those extra storms probably just go somewhere else because of the change in wind pattern that the El Nino brings, eh? Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management (flickr, public domain). One controversial hypothesis proposes that an area of western Coloradoone of the islands that dotted the early Carboniferous seawas, in fact, glaciated. Moisture condenses out of the warm air as it comes into contact with cool air, forming clouds. The Southwest has a very unique culture, climate, and geography. Photograph by Julia Manzerova (Flickr;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license; image resized). The climate was drier than that of the Carboniferous, and mudflats with salt and gypsum formed across the Southwestern states. Colorado has a generally cool and continental climate with low humidity. Paleontological Research Institution Special Publication 38, Ithaca, NY, 200 pp. Shiprock, a volcanic monadnock in San Juan County, New Mexico, rises roughly 483 meters (1583 feet) above the desert plain. Despite the monsoon rainfall this year, much of the region is still in a precipitation deficit. What is the climate in the Southwest region in summer? Winds and waves shape the landscape, and rain showers support lush vegetation. Here on Earth: Regional Guides to Earth Science, Earth Science of the Southwestern United States, Climate of the Southwestern United States. 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). Carbon dioxide emissions in Arizona rose through the last three decades of the 20th century and reached a peak in 2008. 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). Earth 150 million years ago, near the end of the Jurassic Period. Regional overview Southwest. 2021. When you add in the sparse rain-gauge observations available in the U.S. Southwest and Mexico, it becomes even more difficult to make confident statements about the effects of the monsoon and how it can be predicted. Data source: NOAA, 20214Web update: April2021, Key Points | Background | About the Data | Technical Documentation. Today, most of the Southwest experiences about 17 fewer freezing days than it did over the last century. 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. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The oceans between Gondwana and North America began to close. Figure by climate.gov. 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. Fossil mammals adapted to colder temperatures are found in the Pleistocene of Colorado. During the winter, moisture travels from the west, as storms from the Pacific Ocean move east. (3) There is a whole lot of interesting detail in this reportabout everything, but about the North American Monsoon specifically. The reasons for this are complex and involve a combination factors. 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.
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