This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
On an evening in late June, Alex Jimenez, Tucson Water’s artist-in-residence, hosted an outdoor art installation designed to “call the rain through sound.”
The Santa Cruz Sound Experience, held underneath one of the bridges that crosses the dry Santa Cruz River, featured a three-hour sensory compilation of the region’s seasonal summer rains. Toward the end of the event, the skies answered the call, and attendees celebrated as raindrops fell.
The monsoon season has come to the Southwest again. But this season is different from past monsoons: It’s the first since scientists demonstrated that North America’s monsoon — which drenches Sonora, northern Sinaloa and northeastern Chihuahua in Mexico, and the southern fringe of Arizona and New Mexico — differs from seasonal rains in the rest of the world. And, unfortunately for Southwesterners — who welcome the precipitation and need a break from the summer heat — the phenomenon is likely to weaken as the climate warms.
Monsoons, which exis... Read more
