CLIMAS - Southwest Climate Podcast
El Niño and La Niña, the southwestern monsoon, tropical storm activity, increasing temperatures, fire risk and weather, drought and snowpack, and dwindling reservoir storage all pose challenges to the Southwest. In the ‘Southwest Climate Podcast’, we focus on details and nuance, but (generally) avoid excessive technical jargon. Our goal is to synthesize information and data from experts, forecasts, and models to provide listeners with a better understanding of climate and weather in the Southwest, as well as the lessons we can learn from recent events and long term experiences.
Episodes
Recorded 10/01/2026, Aired 10/02/2026
In this special edition of the Southwest Climate Podcast, we have a two-fer: 2026 Monsoon Recap and guest Glenn Lader NWS. After going out with a bang with a fetch of East Pacific moisture from Hurricane Polo earlier this week, hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins put a bow on the official end of the 2026 Monsoon. At the 55:00 minute mark they bring in Glenn...
Recorded 08/13/2026, Aired 08/14/2026
Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins get out their mood rings in this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast to share their frustration and disappointment in the monsoon so far. They do a deep dive into the characteristics of the monsoon including: the late onset, spatial pattern and population density bias (at least in sentiment). Will the east Pacific fire up a ...
Recorded 07/10/2026, Aired 07/14/2026
In this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast, hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins say ‘get ready’ for an interesting monsoon. Although the onset has had a sluggish start, the weekend into this week shows promise for a more active pattern in July. They review the precipitation event that happened at the start of the monsoon on 6/15 as well as t...
Recorded 06/17/2026, Aired 06/18/2026
Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins kick off the 2026 Monsoon in this month’s episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast. The timing couldn’t have been better for a rainy official start date this past Monday. They discuss the precipitation event and whether or not it was truly monsoonal. This sets up the discussion for the upcoming monsoon fo...
Recorded 05/13/2026, Aired 06/09/2026
In this special edition of the Southwest Climate Podcast, hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins have guest Chuck Maxwell join to talk about fire weather. Chuck brings his multi-decadal subject matter expertise from the world of fire management and answers all the burning questions from our hosts. Hear how fire management operations work in the Southwest and h...
Welcome to this special episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast with guest hosts: Gigi Owen & Christina Greene. In this special episode, we bring you 3 guests that were all part of the CLIMAS Environment & Society Fellowship program over the past year. A lot of the science that CLIMAS researchers do is done collaboratively with and for our community partners so that the science that we do...
Recorded 05/15/2026, Aired 05/19/2026
In this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast, hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins answer what a strong El Niño could mean for the monsoon. They do a quick recap of the first half of May. And then it’s off to the races with a look at: sea surface temperatures in the Pacific, ONI vs. RONI, ENSO’s scientific history, monsoon and its interaction with East Pacific tropical ...
Recorded 04/03/2026, Aired 04/07/2026
Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins go full coroner in this month’s episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast and do an autopsy of the record-setting March heat wave. Expect fluid dynamics, conservation of angular momentum, and level of divergence type of nerding for this deep dive. They go over the heat impacts to snowpack and forecasted streamflow, and the ...
Recorded 03/03/2026, Aired 03/04/2026
In this month’s episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast, Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins rank their favorite months of the year - and June gets no love. They recap February’s weather which was high and dry but not much else. There’s a discussion on ENSO with a deep dive into a couple related papers of note. And with the end of m...
Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins are kicking off 2026 with a look at this winter’s weird weather in this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast. They do a recap of the last couple of months of precip and temps. They do a review of large scale climate patterns - Madden–Julian Oscillation, Greenland Block - and get into a deep discussion about the Polar ...
In this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast episode, hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins are feeling good about the warmer than normal December temps. They start out with a look at recent conditions, including the persistent ridge keeping us dry this month. This leads to a review of a paper on the Heat Dome of 2023 - and what all this warmth means for snowpack in the west. &nb...
Recorded 11/07/2025, Aired 11/10/2025
Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins are enjoying the recent fall weather in this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast episode. The hosts recap October which had some pretty interesting storm activity. There is a summary of the hurricane season - including the category 5 Melissa that had devastating impacts in the Caribbean. They cover the fall to wi...
Recorded 10/03/2025, Aired 10/06/2025
In this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins kick it off by saying goodbye to the monsoon. They do a recap of the season with a focus on last month's rain events. September was interesting to say the least - this leads to a philosophical discussion on whether it is the same flavor as the rest of the monsoon. The h...
Recorded 8/29/2025, Aired 9/2/2025
We are over two-thirds of the way through this year’s monsoon and in this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins have a bit of a therapy session. They do a round up of July and August which they call the most uninteresting monsoon. There is a deep dive on what is driving this pic...
Recorded 07/23/2025, Aired 07/24/2025
Hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins in this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast focus on the current unusual monsoon for the entire episode. All the ingredients are there - but it is not your typical season. They cover the southwesterly flow, what the heck is going on with the four corners high, and the low that’s been sitting off the coast of Cali...
Recorded 06/24/2025, Aired 06/26/2025
In this month’s Southwest Climate Podcast we are in the final countdown to the monsoon. To get us started, host Zack Guido quizzes host Mike Crimmins on his climatology knowledge. They then cover this past month’s heat ramp up, take a walk down monsoon history over the past few seasons, and look at past conditions as a precursor to get the monso...
Recorded 5/16/2025, Aired 05/20/2025
The Southwest Climate Podcast hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins are ready to start counting down the days to this year’s monsoon season. But before they get into the monsoon preview - they do a final winter recap and review April and May’s weather patterns. They also cover the fire season so far, and Mike gets to share on his upcoming paper &ldq...
Recorded 3/28/2025, Aired 4/1/2025
For this month's Southwest Climate Podcast hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins deliver a fully robust episode. They review the abysmal winter season, breeze through our ‘meh’ March, cover the snowpack conditions and drought situation - which all could lead up to a potentially active fire hazard season. Stick around for the deep dive into the Pacific...
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...
Recorded 12/06/2024
Aired 12/10/2024
In this month’s episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast hosts Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins slow-roll into the winter season. They look back on 2024 followed by what happened in November and why - including the Atmospheric River event on the west coast. They dive into a recent paper that interrogates the expected intensification of cool s...
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