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Southwest Mushroom Collecting Weather
In the midwest morel areas it is thought that it requires the proper mix of rainfall and temperature conditions to produce a good crop. Mushroom hunting in the southwest tends to be simpler and primarily dependent on only one factor: water. If there is no water then you get no mushrooms. If there is a long and wet rainy season there will often be many mushrooms. If you have a heavy snowpack followed by a monsoon season that starts early and drops lots of rain mushroom production can be fantastic.
Precipitation in the southwest generally correlates with elevation. Lower elevations are generally a desert and receive very little precipitation. As you head into the mountainous areas and encounter piñon and juniper there is generally higher annual precipitation. When you get into ponderosa pimes it is even higher. At the very highest areas in the douglas fir annual precipitation can almost reach reasonable levels and you seem to encounter a little bit of Canada right in the southwest. The diversity and abundance of mushrooms and other macrofungi generally tends to increase with elevation in the southwest.
Annual Precipitation Maps (all maps open in a new window)
More Detailed Arizona Annual Average Precipitation Map (slower to load)
More Detailed New Mexico Annual Average Precipitation Map (slower to load)
Timing of Precipitation
In many areas of the southwest the bulk of rainfall occurs during the monsoon season usually commencing sometime around the 4th of July and ending by about Labor Day. As a result the normal mushroom season in the southwest runs from around the last week or so of July into September, but can be more restricted or even nonexistent if the monsoon season starts late.
Maps of Percentage of Annual Precipitation by month for July to September
Most of the remainder of annual precipitation occurs during the winter months, usually as snow in higher elevations.
Map of Percentage of Annual Precipitation in October through March
The saying "April showers bring May flowers" is without meaning in the southwest as April, May, and sometimes most of June are usually the driest months of the year, often having no precipitation at all in many areas of the southwest.
Map of Percentage of Annual Precipitation in April, May and June
As a result the spring fruiting mushrooms such as morels are not abundant in the southwest. When found at all it is usually where water is supplied by runoff from snowmelt in riparian habitats. It is not that morels are not found in the southwest, but rather that conditions are rarely optimum for fruiting at the time they are accustomed to doing so.
Exceptions to the Timing of Water Availability
Usually the first mushrooms I find each year are a patch of Coprinus atramentarius which emerges at the base of a honey locust tree in the county courthouse lawn usually about the middle of May. They are not dependent on natural rainfall (which is usually nonexistent at that time), but instead benefit from the efforts of the county maintenance works to keep the lawn green by providing an artificial water supply otherwise known as sprinklers. In recent drought years the use of sprinklers has become heavily restricted in most New Mexico communities but the county courthouse lawn still seems to get abundant water. The same species usually doesn't appear in the mountains (where it is dependent on natural rainfall) for another three months. Coprinus atramentarius is a species that is quite edible with the warning that some strains contain sufficient antabuse-like compounds that one may be unable to properly metabolize alcohol for up to four days after eating it. The syndrome is known as acetaldehyde poisoning and, while generally unpleasant and sometimes quite scary, it is not generally life threatening.
Scott Bates of the Arizona Mushroom Club tells me that Chlorophyllum molybdites (a poisonous species that can make one rather ill) is very common in the lawns of Phoenix, though I have never encountered it in the mountain areas where I collect mushrooms.
In previous years while living in Albuquerque I often found various Agaricus in the parks there where sprinklers were used every evening.
The Effect of Anomalies in Water Availability
Some species of mushrooms seem to be very dependent on water availability several months before fruiting. The larger boletes such as Boletus edulis and Boletus barrowsii seem to require substantial soil moisture content well before their fruiting season to produce a good crop, and may even be dependent on a heavy snowpack the previous winter. Boletus barrowsii was very abundant in my vicinity in 1999 when winter snowfall was heavy and the summer rains were heavy. In 2000 when the winter snowpack was well below normal and the rains came very late they were completely absent.In 2001 when winter snowpack was below normal but better than in 2000 they were present but by no means abundant in abundant in western New Mexico. Strangely, in Arizona's White Mountains were summer rains were much earlier and heavier both Boletus edulis and Boletus barrowsii were very abundant in 2001. They may have had a heavier winter snowpack in that area as well.
Studies done on chanterelles in areas outside the southwest have shown that proper development requires substantial soil moisture up to eight months before they actually fruit. If the same holds true in the southwest that would require abundant soil moisture in January and February when any precipitation is sure to be in the form of snow (chanterelles appear only on very high mountain areas in the southwest, usually at 9000 feet and above). The abundance of chanterelles in 1999 when winter snowpack was heavy compared to their near total absence in the same areas in 2000 and 2001 when the winter snowpack was much less suggests this may be the case. In both years I found maybe a handful at most which were very small (but quite flavorful), so small that I would surely have missed them had I not known exactly what square meter to look for them in. By comparison in 1999 you could often spot the large and brightly colored chanterelles from 100 yards away. By contrast, in 2001 in Arizona's White Mountains where summer rains came much earlier and much heavier chanterelles were abundant and large. I am not sure how much winter snowfall there was in that area but it may have been higher as well.
Lentinus ponderosus, which generally emerges from very deep in the stumps of ponderosa pines, seems to be totally reliant on soil moisture left over from winter snowfall. It is a very edible species with a rather chewy texture not unlike a giant shiitake. In the terrible year of 2000 before the very late rainy season finally started we found a single dessicated specimen growing from a stump right where we were camping one weekend. The previous year there had been Boletus barrowsii growing all through the area, but in 2000 there had been no summer rains at that point (fire restrictions were still in effect). The single Lentinus ponderosus was the only mushroom found all weekend. It was so dry that originally I thought it may have originally fruited the previous year and just stayed around in a dessicated state for us to find. But the next summer I made a trip to Mount Taylor in mid-July when I thought it may have rained enough to start some mushrooms growing there. I was wrong and found the woods absolutely dry looking as if it hadn't rained in several months and found no mushrooms except a fresh clump of Lentinus ponderosus growing out of a water bar which probably incorporated some buried ponderosa wood. It was obvious they had not emerged inresponse to recent rainfall, which had been lacking, so I presume they were relying on moisture remaining from winter snowfall.
Auricularia auricula, a crunchy ear fungus that I have seen only on douglas fir in this area, seems to appear almost immediately in response to summer rains. The best harvest I have had of this species took place in 2000 after the rains finally started high in the mountains very late in the summer. There were few other mushrooms around due to the long dry spell and very late rains, but Auricularia auricula strangely appeared to be far more abundant than in the prior lush year. I should note that this might be a more subjective impression than an actual comparative measure of abundance because Auricularia auricula is generally small and subtlely colored. The first ones I found in that area the previous year were growing on a branch in the middle of a fairy ring of bright orange chanterelles. Had I not been on my hands and knees picking the chanterelles I probably never would have noticed the Auricularia. The year 2000 was such a disastrous year for mushrooms in the southwest that there was virtually nothing to distract one from seeeing the Auricularia. Still, it was obvious that when the rains finally did come the Auricularia was far less affected by the long drought than were the other species. I still remember the delicious omelet stuffed with two small Armillaria ostoyae combined with a generous handful of Auricularia that I had that evening. That had been all I had collected in what should have been the height of the mushroom season.
Another species that will fruit prolifically once the rains start even after a long period of drought is Coprinus comatus (Shaggy Mane). Even in the horrible year of 2000 the species was abundant shortly after the rains finally started in late August. I think it was the only species I collected for the table from the Zuni Mountains that year and certainly the predominant one I collected for eating from Mount Taylor. This species grows very fast under the right conditions and can proceed from being a buried button to emergence and full development on through deliquescing in less than 48 hours when conditions are right.
Anomalies in Distribution of Precipitation
Summer rains often hit some areas more than others and can hit some areas heavily in one part of the season and other areas in another part. In early August of 2001 the mountains of western New Mexico were having a so-so mushroom year with a most species appearing but not in great numbers. Many of the storms of the early monsoon season had missed the area. I went to the Arizona Mushroom Club foray in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona only to find the place essentially swampy. Everywhere the ground gurgled and bounced when you walked on it because of the extreme water content. It was nearly impossible to start a campfire because the wood was so saturated. Mushrooms were everywhere. Those mountains had been hit early and heavy by rainstorms and the result was tons of mushrooms. A few weeks later at the end of the month the situation was somewhat reversed and western New Mexico was fairly damp but the White Mountains in Arizona had dried out and had only a few dessicated remnants of the earlier mushroom abundance.
Links to extended records from various weather stations are presented below which should give some limited indications of where the heaviest rainfall has been. Streamflow levels can also be indicative of the amount of rainfall that has taken place in a particular drainage catch basin.
Summary of Current Conditions in the Southwest
07-08-2002 While the monsoon season is finally starting and it hs rained a small amount over much of the southwest, fuel moisture is still in the single digits in most areas and fire danger is still extreme. Most national forests remain closed in part or fully. If you want to find mushrooms this year the safest bet would be to go somewhere else. It looks as if this will be a worse mushroom season than we had in 2000, if that is possible.
07-02-2002 The morel season, as predicted, was nonexistent in the southwest. Also as predicted the fire season has been extremely productive with some of the largest fires historically recorded in the southwest this year. Although there have been some rainstorms the last few weeks in eastern New Mexico the western part of the state where I live is still absolutely dry and local Forest Service lands remain, for the most part, closed to entry. Even if the monsoons should start now it is dubious whether the mushroom season would be much good this year. Most of the rain that has fallen this year has hit the north central and northeast part of New Mexico with some storms going through the southeast portion of the state as well. Arizona has not received much rainfall at this point.
03-14-2002 At present prospects for any kind of morel season look slim to bad and seem to be getting worse. Snowpack is very low and the forest fire season has already started, two months before normal. Various fire agencies claim fire danger is even higher this year than in 2000 when record amounts of forest burned in New Mexico. It is possible that even the late summer mushroom season may already be pretty shot unless the monsoon season starts early and lasts long. The woods are already extremely dry and we are just beginning the driest part of the year.
Current Weather Conditions
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Weather Underground Current Weather Conditions I am afraid the stickers for current weather conditions from Weather Underground have not been working well lately. If you cannot see the current conditions stickers I apologize, but clicking the city name should take you to the Weather Underground page for the listed city anyway.
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Current Intellicast Radar Imagery These links will take you outside of this site. You will have to click the "back" button on your browser to return.
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Other Available Weather Information on the Internet There is a wide variety of weather information on the internet that can be useful in planning when and where to look for mushrooms and other macrofungi. Some of this information comes from private sources and commercial weather reporting organizations while other information is available from federally operated weather stations.
U.S. Government Weather Station Data
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All information contained on this page not otherwise copyrighted is ©2002 by B.W. Freyburger. All rights reserved.
Updated July 8, 2002
