CLIMAS Southwest Climate Outlook

The August 2008 Southwest Climate Outlook from Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) at the University of Arizona.

This is such an easily digested overview of our climate conditions. It covers drought, temperature, precipitation (including Monsoon) and ENSO conditions.

Their summary may surprise you:

"The Bottom Line - Monsoon storms have delivered variable but copious amounts of precipitation. In many parts of New Mexico, monsoon rain is above average. These rains have helped New Mexico experience widespread short-term drought improvements. Extremely dry conditions in northern Arizona counties have harmed many crops."

To get more details from this report, you can view or download the pdf by following the link above.

North American Monsoon

Did you know that our monsoon rains actually have a name? According to CLIMAS at the University of Arizona, this major Southwest climate feature is called the North American Monsoon (NAM) and gives us our precious summer rains.

This climate system is featured in a new report, Border Climate Summary, which I just received from CLIMAS. You can download it as a pdf. The Coconino Chronicles first looked at Climate Assessment for the Southwest in this post.

The Border Climate Summary gives an excellent overview of the NAM and some programs that are currently underway to track and predict these vital monsoon rains.

2008 Pecos Conference in Flagstaff

The Pecos Conference, which will be held August 7-10, 2008, in Flagstaff, has been meeting for 80 years to informally discuss Southwestern prehistory. The first conference was held in the summer of 1927, the year before the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) opened its doors. Flagstaff and the MNA hosted the Pecos Conference for the first time in 1950 and most recently in 2001.

You will find all the particulars here, including registration forms, location of the four venues to be used this year and an overview of all the sessions, plus special events.

From the conference home page, "In recent years, Native Americans, avocational archaeologists, the general public and media organizations have come to play an increasingly important role, serving as participants and as audience, to celebrate archaeological research and to mark cultural continuity."

In case you have not heard, David R. Wilcox, Senior Research Anthropologist, MNA, the 2008 Conference Chairman, recently received this award: "The Arizona Archaeological Society announced at it’s Spring State Meeting in Flagstaff on May 24, 2008 that Dr David Wilcox, Senior Research Archaeologist at the Museum of Northern Arizona has been selected to receive The 2008 Professional Archaeologist of the Year Award from the AAS." (Press release from the Arizona Archaeological Society.)

By the way, the Northern Arizona Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society, meets the third Tuesday of each month, at 7:00 p.m., in The Peaks - Alpine Room (3150 N. Winding Brook Road, that Hwy 180 north of Flagstaff, just south of MNA.)

Southwest Climate Outlook

Let's take a look at CLIMAS, Climate Assessment for the Southwest, at the University of Arizona. Some really interesting material, including current outlook and historyof climate, drought, and fire potential are available.

You can download a paper on the "current state of knowledge concerning the climate of the Southwest." It's under Publications, called The Climate of the Southwest by Paul R. Sheppard, et al. If you prefer, you can watch a slide presentation by David P. Brown on the same subject. These were both done in 1999, but so much historical information.

For more current information, you can read online, or download a pdf, of the May 2008 issue Southwest Climate Outlook. This excellent resource is published monthly. The archive goes back through 2002, with older versions available upon email request. There's also an archive of the feature articles from past issues.

You can join the mailing list to receive the Southwest Climate Outlook each month. Just follow the directions here.

Be sure and explore all options on this site. It is filled with dozens of downloads.