It’s 92º and 9% humidity right now. I’m sitting with the door open and no cooling on and am perfectly comfortable. There is a ceiling fan turning slowly — and a breeze as there’s a thunderstorm in the mountains nearby, though not near enough to send the humidity up.
I love New Mexico.
The monsoon season hasn’t started yet though. The dew point is still in the 40s or lower. It needs to average 55 for three consecutive days before it’s deemed monsoon season. (The federales have decided the monsoon season is always to be June 15 – September 30 no matter the weather. But they think Washington’s Birthday is the third Monday in February too, so who cares what they say.)
Monsoon comes from the Arabic term for season or wind shift.
Both the Southwest USA, including Arizona and New Mexico, and Southeast Asia, including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, experience the monsoon each summer. The Asian monsoon often brings heavy, flooding rains to the area, while the Southwest monsoon brings scattered strong thunderstorms to dry desert regions. The Southwest monsoon is caused by two meteorological changes during the summer:
–The northerly movement of the Bermuda High (a strong area of high pressure) into the central USA
–Intense heating of the Mohave Desert to the west, which creates low pressure over the areaSince air rotates counterclockwise around low pressure and clockwise around high pressure, the positioning of these systems allows for a strong southerly flow over the Southwest. (Prevailing winds in the winter are from the west and northwest …) These south winds bring in moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean, increasing the chance of rain and thunderstorms.
Diagram is from August 2006, but it shows clearly how the monsoon draws humid air up from the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Click the image for larger version.
Update: In the spirit of full disclosure, the breeze stopped and I turned the cooler on.
Ken,
I realize that you believe much of Colorado should really be part of New Mexico, but it’s really unfair to leave us out of the North American Monsoon. Or is that the Weather Guys fault?
Coyote Gulch
I only claim Colorado south and west of the Arkansas River for New Mexico. You can keep the Front Range and most of the Plains. 🙂
The quote says the Southwest “including Arizona and New Mexico.” I think the description of the monsoons was originally for weather forecasts for Phoenix.
In addition to Colorado, El Paso and west Texas are surely part of the southwest, and Utah, too. Las Vegas, Nevada, gets some monsoon storms as well.
Ken,
I assume that “West of the Arkansas” includes the San Luis Valley and the Rio Grande. I have a retirement house in Dolores. Are you going to take the San Juan and La Plata mountains also? I need to know if I should sell.
Up here in Denver the monsoon sometimes sparks a “Denver Cyclone,” but for the most part we love the extra water in the reservoirs around the state.
Coyote Gulch
What’chu got against living in Dolores, New Mexico?
(Nice area!)
Ken,
Nothing really. I’m a Colorado native so I guess that’s it.
Coyote Gulch
Oh, all right. Colorado can keep Dolores.
🙂
I remember visiting the Delores area years ago and wishing I could buy some land there and run a camp ground or something. It was so beautiful along the river. I envy you, Coyote Gulch. I don’t suppose you’d like to trade for some beautiful property on Pine Ridge in NW Nebraska. (It nothing like the rest of Nebraska.)
Debby,
Well no, I wouldn’t be willing to trade. Are you near the Nebraska State Forest?
My house is not on the river. The only flowing surface water comes from a couple of irrigation laterals.
Coyote Gulch
We live almost across the street from Chadron State Park, the oldest state park in Nebraska. Around here people call this “The Other Nebraska” because it is so unique compared to the rest of the state. Fort Robinson is about 33 miles from where I live. I was offered a summer job there doing hay wagon tours for tourists (or several other options), but with the price of gas and the low pay, I would have been working for next to nothing. The Badlands of SD are within an hour, along with Hot Springs, the gateway to the Black Hills. Rushmore is about two hours away. It’s very nice country. But, I can understand why someone with land around Delores would want to keep it. I wish I’d been in a position to buy that campground on the river way back when (1989). I imagine it’s worth a lot more now.
Debby,
Sounds like a nice place to live. I’ve wanted to visit the badlands and the Black Hills for a while now. I keep ending up going west out of Denver instead of north (and east). 🙂
Coyote Gulch