Even if the Southwest’s Colorado River basin gets more than average rain or snowfall in coming decades, experts say it is unlikely to effectively counteract the impacts of continued warming weather and a drying climate. So, a hotter and drier environment in Arizona and bordering states is a certainty, says Enrique Vivoni (pictured), a Fulton Schools associate professor and hydrologist whose expertise is in interactions of climate, ecosystems and landscapes in arid and semiarid regions. Vivoni has also been involved in a recent NASA-funded project enabling the Central Arizona Project and ASU researchers to carefully assess ongoing environmental trends in the Colorado River Basin region. (Access to the full content of Tucson.com is available only to subscribers.)