Michael Crimmins

Professor & Extension Specialist - Climate Science, Department of Environmental Science

Links

Dr. Crimmins is on the faculty of the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona and is a Climate Science Extension Specialist for Arizona Cooperative Extension. In this position he provides climate science support to resource managers across Arizona by assessing information needs, synthesizing and transferring relevant research results, and conducting applied research projects. His extension and research work supports resource management across multiple sectors including rangelands, forests/wildfire, and water resources as well as informing policy and decision makers. This work aims to support managers by increasing climate science literacy as well as developing strategies to adapt to a changing climate. He also serves as a drought monitoring expert on the Arizona Governor’s Drought Task Force and has worked with counties across Arizona to implement drought preparedness and impact monitoring plans.

Publications

Woodhouse, C. A., Crimmins, M., & Meko, M.. (2025). The Role of Seasonal Precipitation Sequences in Shaping the Climate of the United States Southwest. International Journal of Climatology, e70138. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.70138

Crimmins, M., Geli, H., Greene, C., Meko, M., & Prihodko, L.. (2025). Changing Climate, Changing Fire: Understanding Ecosystem-Specific Fire-Climate Dynamics in Arizona and New Mexico. Earth Interactions. https://doi.org/10.1175/EI-D-25-0001.1

McKellar, T. T., & Crimmins, M. A.. (2025). Seasonal precipitation variability controls shallow soil water drought events across the southwestern United States. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110403

Crimmins, M. A., Maxwell, C., Ferguson, D. B., & Frisvold, G. B.. (2024). Burn Period: A Use-Inspired Metric to Track Wildfire Risk across Arizona and New Mexico in the Southwest United States. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 63(12), 1559–1568. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0067.1

Frisvold, G. B., Zhang, N., Crimmins, M. A., Ferguson, D. B., & Maxwell, C.. (2024). Demand for Information for Wildland Fire Management. Atmosphere, 15(11), 1364. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15111364

Ferguson, D. B., Frisvold, G. B., Maxwell, C., & Crimmins, M. A.. (2024). How Are Weather and Climate Products and Decision Support Systems Used in Wildland Fire Decision-Making in the U.S. Southwest?. Weather, Climate, and Society, 16(4), 789–802. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-24-0069.1

Greene, C., & Crimmins, M. A.. (2024). Experiences with Drought and the Livestock Forage Disaster Program in Arizona. Climate Assessment for the Southwest. https://doi.org/10.2458/climas/SHMM4316

McKellar, T. T., Crimmins, M. A., Schaap, M. G., & Rasmussen, C. (2023). Defining the Multiscalar Index Timescale—Soil Water Depth Continuum for the Southwestern United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(23). https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039348

Hoy, D., Granillo, R. L., Boeman, L., McMahan, B., & Crimmins, M. A.. (2023). Data aggregation, ML ready datasets, and an API: leveraging diverse data to create enhanced characterizations of monsoon flood risk. Frontiers in Climate, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2023.1107363

Meadow, A., Weiss, J. L., & Crimmins, M.. (2023). Climate Profile for the Quad Cities Region of Arizona. In Climate Assessment for the Southwest, University of Arizona.

Guido, Z., McMahan, B., Hoy, D., Larsen, C., Delgado, B., Granillo III, R. L., & Crimmins, M.. (2023). Public Engagement on Weather and Climate with a Monsoon Fantasy Forecasting Game. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 104(1), E249–E256. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0003.1

Crimmins, M., Guido, Z., & McMahan, B.. (2022). Guide to Southwest U.S. Station Climate Summaries. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.

Crimmins, T., & Crimmins, M. A.. (2022). Large-scale citizen science programs can support ecological and climate change assessments. Environmental Research Letters, 17(6), 065011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac72b7

Guido, Z., McMahan, B., Hoy, D., Larsen, C., Delgado, B., Granillo, R. L., & Crimmins, M.. (2022). Public Engagement on Weather and Climate with a Monsoon Fantasy Forecasting Game. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 104(1), E249–E256. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0003.1

Greene, C., Wilmer, H., Ferguson, D. B., Crimmins, M., & McClaran, M. P. (2022). Using scale and human agency to frame ranchers’ discussions about socio-ecological change and resilience. Journal of Rural Studies, 96, 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.11.001

Walsh, K. B., Greene, C., Crimmins, M. A., Ferguson, D. B., McClaran, M., & Wilmer, H. (2022). What does resilience mean to ranchers. USDA.

McMahan, B., Granillo, R. L., Delgado, B., Herrera, M., & Crimmins, M. A.. (2021). Curating and Visualizing Dense Networks of Monsoon Precipitation Data: Integrating Computer Science Into Forward Looking Climate Services Development. Frontiers in Climate, 3, 602573. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.602573

Khatri-Chhetri, P., Hendryx, S. M., Hartfield, K. A., Crimmins, M. A., Leeuwen, W. J. D. van, & Kane, V. R. (2021). Assessing Vegetation Response to Multi-Scalar Drought across the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan Deserts and Apache Highlands in the Southwest United States. Remote Sensing, 13(6), 1103. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13061103

Crimmins, M. A. (2021). Climate change made Arizona’s heat wave worse. And it won’t be the last one.

Crimmins, M. A. (2021). NOAA releases 1991-2020 Climate Normals Update. Arizona Rangelands - Quarterly Newsletter.

Crimmins, M. A., & Crimmins, T. M. (2021). The Ebb and Flow of Desert Rains and Blooms (Vols. 66, Issue 1, pp. 6–9). Vermillion Flycatcher.

Crimmins, M. A., McMahan, B., Holmgren, W. F., & Woodard, G. (2021). Tracking precipitation patterns across a western U.S. metropolitan area using volunteer observers: RainLog.Org. International Journal of Climatology, 41(8), 4201–4214. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7067

Uhlman, K., Eastoe, C., Guido, Z., Crimmins, M. A., Purkey‐Deller, A., & Eden, S. (2020). Assessing the Vulnerability of an Aquifer to Climate Variability through Community Participation in Arivaca, Arizona. Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 170(1), 2–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1936-704X.2020.03337.x

Brischke, A., Crimmins, M. A., Grace, J., Hall, A., & McClaran, M. (2020). Financial Options for Livestock Producers During Natural Disasters. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Bulletin.

Weiss, J., Crimmins, M. A., & Garfin, G. (2020). La Niña 2020-2021: An Overview of What It Might Mean for Arizona. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.

Projects

Name	Project type	Project Dates
Climate and Wildfire Risk in the Southwest	Research	2023
Science for Society	Research	2022
Weather and Climate Information for Southwest Wildfire Management	Research	2021
The Lower San Pedro Conservation Collaborative: Stakeholder Engagement on Climate and Environmental Vulnerability	Research	2021
USDA Livestock Forage Disaster Program and Ranching in the Southwest U.S.	Research	2020