The American Southwest, a region defined by the Colorado River and its tributaries – including the San Miguel and other rivers originating in the San Juan Mountains – experts say new evidence reveals a clearer picture of extended and sometimes severe droughts in the past 1,100 years that very well may reappear – this time with an overlay of hotter temperatures caused by increased levels of greenhouse gases. What effect these human-caused emissions will have on precipitation is still uncertain. Global warming could produce more rain and snow. Or not. On the matter of temperature, however, nearly all the computer models reach one conclusion: It will get hotter, much hotter, in places like Tucson, Colorado Springs and Reno. And hotter – even if precipitation stays the same – means drier. In other words, the “average” of the future will resemble what in the past we called drought. 

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