February 2025 SW Climate Podcast – Well… It’s Been Sunny

Recorded 2/14/2025, Aired 2/18/2025 It’s a new year and in this month’s episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins are looking for good news.  Zack gives a tour of recent statistics for the past few months and Mike goes over the related atmospheric happenings.  They cover La Niña and the climatology of the Southwest during this winter season.  Can we shake off this persistent dry spell and bring on a magnificent March?  Lastly they cover the Santa Ana winds which played a part in the destructive L.A. fires and begin to delve into AI weather modeling and forecasting.   Mentions: ENSO Blog: February 2025 La Niña update: La Niña today, gone tomorrow?  Paper: Changes in atmospheric rivers and moisture transport over the Northeast Pacific and western North America in response to ENSO diversity Scripps: Center For Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) Southeast Regional Climate Center (SERCC): Climate Perspectives - West Paper: Ignitions explain more than temperature or precipitation in driving Santa Ana wind fires European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University Climate School - ENSO Plumes Billy Idol - State Line: Live At The Hoover Dam