CLIMAS - Southwest Climate Podcast

In the June/early-July edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss weather and climate in the Southwest.  They start with June heatwaves, and where these sit in comparison to climatology/normal for the Southwest, and how they differ from the record heat waves seen in the Pacific Northwest.  They transition to a discussion of the early(ish) onse...

In the May 2021 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss a range of issues related to that most pressing question this time of year - "What's the Monsoon Forecast?!".  They run through the last month of weather, what we might expect from June given historical patterns and extremes, and how much faith we can put in forecasts this time of year...

In the April 2021 episode of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido jump into winter weather and assessments of (drought) conditions.  First, they look back at winter so far and see how it stacks up to recent historical totals. Next, they take a closer look at the relationship between summer and winter precipitation, and the various phase combinations (wet/dry, dry/wet,...

In the Mar 2021 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss the winter in the Southwest, and whether it lived up to expectations for a La Niña winter. They also go over streamflow, snowpack, and start a deeper dive into reservoirs, based on a listener question from last month (send in your questions if you have them!). They dabble a bit in the...

In the February 2021 episode of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido jump back into discussing winter conditions in the Southwest. This includes what happened so far in 2021 with a few runs of storms that affected parts of Arizona and New Mexico. This also includes the role that La Niña may be playing this winter (snowpack, streamflow forecasts, rain/snow events, etc....

In the Dec 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss drought, La Nina, and what to expect (or at least hope for) in 2021. First, they recap the event that swept through on Dec 9-11, to talk through how different locations in the region fared in terms of precip.  Next, they transition into the drought situation, which is currently looking...

In the November episode of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss weather and climate in the Southwest, including what we might expect over the next few months.  They discuss La Niña and what this might mean for the Southwest, including implications of La Niña following a much drier than average monsoon and what the historical record says about just...

In the October 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido open up with something fun - with a quick rundown of the Monsoon Game 2020, congratulating Mike (for his CLIMAS podcast team victory, with 33 points) and Aaryn O with his overall victory (56 points). Next, they look back on the monsoon, and try to make sense of some of the reasons that might have cont...

In the September 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido reflect on this year's monsoon.  The monsoon is not over, but at this point it is clear it will come in on the dry side of things. They discuss some of the reasons why, and how this below average monsoon compares across the region and to other years. Zack also recounts some of our Slack/text convers...

In the August 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss "what is going on with monsoon 2020?!" This includes a review of different locations around the U.S. Southwest, where some locales are just barely hitting long-term averages, while others are running at record or near-record driest levels (so far). They also cover some of the factor...

In the July 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido update their discussion of the 2020 wildfire season, which is turning out to be quite active for Arizona (while New Mexico is relatively quiet). Next, they move on to monsoon 2020, focusing on what the outlooks and forecasts had to say about this year, how this slow start compares to previous years, and...

In the June 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to talk about the last month of weather (including what Zack has coined the "TooSoon"), the current conditions (including the wildfire situation) and look forward to the monsoon. The monsoon may have officially started on June 15th, but they discuss why we are probably at least a few weeks away...

In the May 2020 edition of the Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss a bit more about the winter that was, summer heat (and the current spring/May heat), the upcoming monsoon, and some of the seasonal hazards we see in the Southwest this time of year (heat, wildfire, air quality). They also look to the monsoon and summer seasonal outlooks and the factors affec...

In the Mar 2020 edition of the Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido sit down to discuss winter conditions across the Southwest, the state of snowpack and snow water equivalent around the west, and water supply and streamflow forecasts as we look to spring and summer.   Discussed in this Episode: Colorado River flow dwindles as warming-driven loss of reflective snow energizes eva...

Looking for the March 2020 Podcast?  We included the wrong bit.ly link in the email and the tweet leads to this page.  The Mar 2020 podcast is here: https://bit.ly/2IZf7GN In the Jan 2020 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido take a look back at 2019 and the climate that was, and make some bold (and not so bold) predictions for what could happen in 2020.  Th...

We hope that our climate/weather punditry can serve as a short break from concerns about the Covid19/coronavirus outbreak. We plan to continue producing this podcast remotely for the foreseeable future, and this podcast was recorded over Zoom. The sound quality might be a little different (or maybe you won't even notice), but we want to keep making the podcast during the stay-at/work-from-home ord...

In the Dec 2019 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Zack Guido is back and joins Mike Crimmins for a discussion of the fall weather that was, and the winter weather that could be. This includes a very wet November, some of the factors that might affect our winter weather patterns, and the challenge of looking further out than a week or two during an ENSO-neutral winter. Happy Holidays...

In the Nov 2019 edition of the Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Ben McMahan sit down to talk through recent storm activity in the Southwest after a month-plus pause in the rain for much of the region during October. Fear not, Zack Guido will be back with us soon, but you'll have to listen to the podcast to hear why (hint: he has a pretty good excuse). With the rain finally falling in t...

In the Oct 2019 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido recap the monsoon that was - or in many places, wasn't.  They discuss the monsoon overall (from June 15 - Sept 30), as well as recent September precipitation related to tropical storm activity and cut-off lows, to play the annual "is this monsoon or not?" game. They also think through how these events can...

In the August 2019 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido deconstruct the monsoon to-date (or the Non-Soon as some are calling it). They take a look at the regional precipitation patterns, how 2019 compares to recent years, and how far back we have to look to find a monsoon that is as dry as this one, with implications for drought as well as regional temperat...

In the this "mini" episode (the Aug 2019 SW Climate Podcast Monsoon Mini) - Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido deconstruct the relative lack of monsoon activity across much of the region, as well as to discuss a few places that are receiving more precipitation than expected (looking at you Ajo). They recap some of the totals through Aug 7 and dive into the mechanics that have been driving this (relative...

Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido are back "early" (unlike the monsoon) for a special mini-podcast focused on the onset of the monsoon. They discuss some of the recent conditions and how they almost saw rain last week (or did, if you were in Vail, AZ or parts of NM), and consider 1) Has the monsoon started?  2) Why/Why-not? and 3) What data helps inform a perspective on monsoon onset (along with what t...

In the June edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido discuss the astonishingly good run of weather the Southwest experienced in May. This busted their bet game of how many 100 degree days in May (there were zero! - Mike bet 2, Zack bet 5-6) but they'll take that loss every year if they could.  They also discuss what this has meant for drought, snowpack, streamf...

In the April 2019 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido discuss the winter that (really) was for most of the Southwest, as well as more recent conditions that have favored Arizona over New Mexico. They also connect late fall and winter precipitation events to current and ongoing issues in the Southwest, including drought and reservoir storage and the status...

In the March 2019 edition of the CLIMAS Southwest Climate Podcast, Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido reflect on the winter so far, including the "frigid" temperatures and "exceptional" precipitation. They also contextualize the winter by looking at the last 5 years - mostly warmer and drier - vs. climatology -- considering what a normal winter might actually look like in the Southwest.  They also discu...