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Nancy J. Selover Arizona State Climate Office Arizona State University azclimate.asu.edu. Drought Monitoring Technical Committee Update to the Arizona Interagency Coordinating Group November 6, 2012. Precipitation Comparison Colorado River Basin. WY 2010 to April. WY 2011 to April.
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Nancy J. Selover Arizona State Climate Office Arizona State University azclimate.asu.edu Drought Monitoring Technical Committee Update to the Arizona Interagency Coordinating Group November 6, 2012
Precipitation Comparison Colorado River Basin WY 2010 to April WY 2011 to April WY 2012 to April
National Drought Monitor Comparison (Short-Term) Nov 1, 2011 May 1, 2012 October 30, 2012
Long Term Drought Status Comparison October 2012 April 2012 October 2011
Precipitation WY 2012 Jan-Apr 2012 Oct-Dec 2011
Impacts Mohave County: Spring – Dry vegetation, high forage loss, high wildfire danger, low reservoirs, dry springs. Fall – after monsoon significant greening in many areas, but still very dry in many locaitons including the Kingman area.
Impacts Pima County – Drying stockponds and dry grasses in pasture land. Stage One Drought continues.
Thank you ! Questions ? Nancy J. Selover Arizona State Climate Office Arizona State University 480-965-0580 selover@asu.edu http://azclimate.asu.edu
Winter 2012-2013 Outlook Gary Woodall National Weather Service Phoenix, AZ www.weather.gov/phoenix
Arizona Impacts • El Nino winters… • Mild/cool temperatures, usually wetter than normal • La Nina winters… • Warm temperatures, drier than normal • Neutral winters… • Near normal temperatures overall, varying amounts of precip (other factors in play)
Sea Surface Temperatures Anomalies: difference between observed and normal temperatures “Nino Regions” used in study and research. Nino 3.4 usually has the strongest signals
The El Nino/la Nina Cycle El Nino La Nina
Outlook: Jan/Feb/Mar Three-month averages Shading indicates chances of above/below normal Precip outlook consistent with neutral winters Modest odds for above-normal temperatures
Outlook: Jun/Jul/Aug 2013 Three-month averages Shading indicates chances of above/below normal “Traditional” warm temperature signal Small-scale features drive summer precip
Summary • El Nino and La Nina can be big influences on our winter weather • Guidance suggests a neutral to weak El Nino winter (no La Nina!) • The odds are tilted toward warmer than normal temps, no odds on precip • A look ahead at Summer 2013 shows odds again tilted toward warmer than normal temps, no odds on precip
Questions? Contact us! Telephone: 602-275-0073 Home page: www.weather.gov/phoenix Facebook: www.facebook.com, search for “National Weather Service Phoenix” Twitter: www.twitter.com/NWSPhoenix E-mail: gary.woodall@noaa.gov