Joe Barsugli is a Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder and is affiliated with the Western Water Assessment, a joint NOAA-CU program. He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington in His research has ranged from the role of sea-ice during the last Ice Age, to the effects of El Nino on individual storms, to the impacts of Tropical Ocean hot spots in climate change. Joe works with the Western Water Assessment on the use of weather forecasts and climate change projections to inform water resources planning in the West. He is one of the lead authors of Climate Change in Colorado: A Synthesis to support Water Resources Management and Adaptation and an author of Options for Improving Modeling to Assist Water Utility Planning for Climate Change prepared for the Water Utilities Climate Alliance.