southwest region climate in summer
Right (2):Crown of leaves from a mature plant. Yet this landscape actually supports a vast array of plants and animals, along with millions of people who call the Southwest home. Reconstruction created using basemap from the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for GPlatesand the PaleoData Plotter Program, PALEOMAP Project by C. R. Scotese (2016); map annotations by Jonathan R. Hendricks for PRI's[emailprotected]project (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0license). Inset image from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PIA03397). 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 . Maps showing the progressive closure of the Isthmus of Panama at 20 million years ago (A) and 15 million years ago (B). This circulation brings thunderstorms and rainfall to the monsoon region, providing much of their annual total precipitation. 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. Photo by Center for Land Use Interpretation(Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license, image resized). Thus, each Southwestern state experiences both extreme highs and lows. (3) There is a whole lot of interesting detail in this reportabout everything, but about the North American Monsoon specifically. Photo of USNM PAL 165239 by Crinoid Type Project (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, public domain). The last glacial advance of the modern ice age peaked some 18,000 years ago. Fossil ammonoid (Nigericeras scotti) from the Late Cretaceous Greenhorn Limestone, Baca County, Colorado. Typically, a storm blows itself out once the warm air has moved up and the cool air has moved down. 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). 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. In the middle Cretaceous, oceans covered most of the Southwest, with the exception of parts of Arizona and New Mexico. ; 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 . The Wave, a series of intersecting U-shaped troughs eroded into Jurassic NavajoSandstone within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona. In fact, this monsoon may turn out to be the wettest on record for some places! Right: As the vertical column of air turns over, with warm air at the top and cool air at the bottom, the storm begins to dissipate. The satellite loop in this post shows Gulf of Mexico moisture moving west into the monsoon region. 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. And yet another element of the monsoon system that needs more study to resolve. Arizona monsoon cloud with lightning striking the beautiful Sonoran desert in North Scottsdale. Zack and Mike mention that last year was an extremely dry monsoon, and this year is extremely wet. There is also an important relationship between rainfall and temperature: usually, more rain leads to cooler conditions, and less rain leads to hotter conditions. Climate change can intensify multiple stresses that push a species past a survival threshold. Climate at a glance. Left:Trilobites identified asDolichometoppus productusandAlokistocare althea. However, the Southwest is located between the mid-latitude and subtropical atmospheric circulation regimes, and this positioning relative to shifts in these . 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. Dry air is shown in orange. The cycling layers in thesandstone represent changes in the direction of prevailing winds as large sand dunes migratedacross the desert. Glaciers in the Colorado Rockies are sustained largely by avalanches and wind-blown snow. 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. Cold continental conditions dominate the higher altitudes, especially within the Rocky Mountains. That timeworn classic is only partially true--May and September can also be great summer months. (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.) Large portions of the Southwest have experienced drought conditions since weekly Drought Monitor records began in 2000. Climate change is affecting the Southwest's water resources, terrestrial ecosystems, coastal and marine environments, agriculture, and energy supply. The average annual temperature in most of the Southwest is predicted to rise 2.2 to 5.5C (4 to 10F) by 2100. This page uses Google Analytics. Large glaciers were found at higher elevations, and temperatures were cool. Photo by Stefan Klein (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped and resized). Photo by Lane Pearman (flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized). Increased heat in the Pacific Ocean has altered the weather patterns of Pacific storms, decreasing snowfall in the mountains of western Utah and Arizona. Branches and leaves of an ancient conifer (Walchia dawsonii), Permian Hermit Shale, Arizona. The Sonoran Desert is located in southwestern Arizona and adjacent regions of California and Mexico. North America and Europe are part of Laurasia, and South America and Africa are part of Gondwana. The reasons for this are complex and involve a combination factors. Southwest Region Climate - Local Tips for Planning - SW Lakes USA Global temperatures fell further in the late Miocene thanks to the formation of the Himalayas. Earth 150 million years ago, near the end of the Jurassic Period. North American monsoon - Wikipedia Kppen climate map of the 48 contiguous states of the continental United States. Ornithopod-type tracks, Powell Fossil Track Block Tracksite, Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah. (2019)Biology Letters15: 20190114(Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, images cropped, reconfigured, resized, and relabeled). Modified from a map by Adam Peterson (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license). 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. Summer- The summer in the Southwest region is hot and desert-like. Summer temperatures on the South Rim, at 7000 feet (2134 meters), are especially pleasant from 50 to about 85 F (10s to 20s C). The warming conditions alone can be impactful, drying out soils quicker during breaks in monsoon rainfall, for example (2). Left photoandright photoby NPS/Michael Quinn (Grand Canyon National Park via flickr,Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, images cropped and resized). 4. The thunderstorm begins. 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. 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. The American Southwest, here defined as the area between 95W and 125W and 25N and 40N, 9 covers over four million square kilometers. The more than 16 million residents of the Southwest use carbon-rich fossil fuels to provide electricity for lighting, cooling, and appliances, to fuel their transportation and industry, and to make the products they use. Brown indicates areas where experts forecast drought will persist or worsen. Indeed, much of this region has low annual rainfall and seasonally high temperatures that contribute to its characteristic desert climate. Southwestern states are stepping up their use and production of renewable energy. Burning those fossil fuels releases carbon into the atmosphere, which warms the Earth. JulyAugust rainfall anomaly averaged over North American Monsoon region for every year 19502019 (y-axis) versus Nio-3.4 index (x-axis). The Southwest Region climate in the United States is often associated with extremes. 2021. Sand dunes started to become widespread. Summer temperatures in this region rarely rise above 60 F during the day, while winter temperatures hover around 30 F due to the temperate . This page uses Google Analytics. The state's highest temperatures occur in the northeastern plains, where they can exceed 46C (115F). A large, low-latitude desert formed along Pangaea's western margin, generating extensive dune deposits. Precipitation accumulation over the past 12 months, shown as a percent of the average mid-August through mid-August total. Extreme high temperatures. Photograph by Julia Manzerova (Flickr;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license; image resized). Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Average Annual Temperatures in the Southwestern United States. Scale bar = 1 centimeter (about 0.4 inches). Photo by James St. John (flickr,Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and resized). By the end of the Cretaceous, uplift to the west was great enough that the resulting hills shed large amounts of sand and gravel in an easterly direction, pushing the shoreline eastward until sediment (combined with a worldwide drop in sea level) filled the area formerly occupied by the Western Interior Seaway. Moving westward, Colorado's foothills and mountainous areas experience an overall cooler climate and higher levels of precipitation. 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= Tropical (equatorial),B= Arid,C= Temperate (warm temperate),D= Continental (cold),E= polar. Photo of USNM 166396 from the Cretaceous Atlas of Ancient Life(Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, image cropped). In New Mexico, climate is characterized by arid, semiarid, or continental conditions, with light precipitation, low humidity, and abundant sunshine. 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. There was likely little or no glacial ice anywhere on Earth, and temperatures were highest in lower latitudes. Precipitation, while sparse, peaks in the summer during the monsoonal storms, and again in the winter from storms originating in the Pacific Ocean. Data from the Northeast Regional Climate Center Applied Climate Information System; 2079-2099 image shows the weighted mean of downscaled CMIP5 models in the LOCA dataset. Funnel clouds (developing tornadoes) over El Paso County, Colorado, March 29, 2019. For example San Diego county has a population of azalea otherwise not seen for hundreds of miles to the north. The monsoon starts to develop in Mexico in June, and moves into the U.S. Southwest in July. 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. Ordovician deposits across the Southwest indicate warm, shallow seas rich in invertebrate life. The Southwest is also definable, to an extent, by environmental conditions - primarily aridity. Global temperatures during the Cretaceous were very warm, as much as 10C (18F) above those at present. . The climate was drier than that of the Carboniferous, and mudflats with salt and gypsum formed across the Southwestern states. Photo by Jeffrey Beall (Wikimedia Commons,Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, image resized). An ancient horse (Mesohippus),Eocene Florissant Fossil Beds, Teller County, Colorado. Rainfall, as anyone who has read the ENSO Blog before will know, is an extremely complicated thing to predict!