News

If you live in the Southwest, no doubt you know a little bit about our weather. It's interesting here. You likely know we have a monsoon during the summer, with awesome thunderstorms and flash floods, and our wettest winters and biggest floods happen when there's an El Niño event. We've also been hearing a lot about global climate change - and there's already a lot of evidence that it's happening here now. One big question is: how will our monsoon change in the future? (Read More)

Recently, a colleague (Brad Udall, University of Colorado) and I wrote a short overview of climate change in the West—based on peer-reviewed literature—that appeared in the journal Science (Overpeck and Udall, 2010). The big story is really in the Southwest. What follows here is a summary of our findings. (read more)

After reading a climate modeling paper in the journal Nature that discusses the speed of warming in different ecosystems, I wanted to hear how plants were moving in response to a changing climate from someone with their boots on the ground. The Nature paper “The Velocity of Climate Change,” published in December 2009, stated that plants and animals that require a narrow temperature range to live will be forced to migrate in order to remain in the same climate in which they evolved. Those that can keep pace with climate change will adapt. Those that cannot will likely perish (Read More). 

In the West, as much as 70 percent of the region’s precipitation falls during winter. Arizona and New Mexico are critically dependant on this winter precipitation. The region’s two main water lifelines, the Colorado River and the Rio Grande, tap the winter snows in the Rocky Mountains for approximately 70 percent of their annual water flow. (Read more)

Current observations suggest that climate change is altering streamflows in ways that negatively impact water supply for southwestern populations. Many climate models suggest that these changes will worsen as the climate warms, accentuating the natural variability inherent in river flows.

Since water is one of the most vital resources in the arid Southwest, the consequences of reduced streamflows and changes in the timing of peak river flows will impact water consumption, agriculture production, economic growth, recreation opportunities, and electricity generation, among other vital services. (Find out more)

Groundwater provides drinking water to urban and rural communities and supports agriculture and industry, all of which have helped enable rapid population growth in Arizona and New Mexico. Population expansion, however, has not been without its consequences. It has led to increasing groundwater withdrawals that are outpacing the rate at which the vital resource is naturally replenished. As a result, the region’s groundwater resources are among the most overused in the United States (continue reading). 

Health risks are linked to climate change through direct and indirect cause-and-effect chains, and depend on factors such as a person’s age, health condition, economic status, access to quality healthcare programs, and exposure to the elements. In the Southwest, regional health risks linked to climate change include extreme heat conditions, poor air quality, and increased food-, water-, fungal- and animal-borne diseases (Read More).

In the Southwest, climate is an important natural resource and a draw for tourists. Many people come to the region to take advantage of its warm, mild winters, to boat or kayak in the lakes and rivers, or to enjoy snow sports in the higher elevations.

(read more)