precipitation

Jonathan Overpeck and Bradley Udall summarize recent climate changes in western North America in the journal Science. They highlight that the West, particularly the Southwest, needs to prepare for even larger climate changes in the future.

May 21, 2009 | Web briefing | Event Web site

CLIMAS and Arizona Cooperative Extension will host an online climate briefing about the 2009 monsoon for natural resource managers, extension faculty, and interested citizens on May 21 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. Colleagues from northern Mexico are especially invited to participate, as forecasts will cover the U.S.-Mexico border region.

Average monsoon precipitation (June 15 through September 31) since 1895 for Tucson and 1896 for Phoenix. This data was obtained from the National Weather Service in Tucson.

The data for Arizona was obtained from the NWS Tucson; New Mexico data was compiled from the Western Regional Climate Center.

During El Niño years, all climate divisions in Arizona and New Mexico tend to receive above-average winter precipitation. Values represent the percentage of December-March precipitation compared to non-El Niño years for the period 1895-1996.