Standard snow drought With unprecedented heat hitting most areas of the American West, depleting future water supplies and making them more vulnerable to dangers forest fires And harming tourism and entertainment in the winter.
Scientists say snow cover and snow depth are at their lowest levels in decades, while at least 67 Western weather stations measured the warmest December through early February on record. Normal snow cover at this time of year should be about 460,000 square miles — roughly the size of California, Utah, Idaho and Montana — but this year it’s only the size of California, about 155,000 square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
“I’ve never seen a winter like this before,” said center director Mark Serez, who has lived in Colorado for nearly 40 years. “This pattern we are living in is very persistent.”
Snowpack — measured by the amount of water trapped inside — in Oregon is not only a record low, but 30% less than the previous record, said Jason Gerlich, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Drought Early Warning System.
Much of the eastern US Rocky Mountains are covered in snow and continue for more than two weeks Unusual cold that chills the bonesBut in West Jordan, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Trevor Stevens went to the store last week wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt.
“Right now, there’s no snow on the ground,” he said in a video interview, looking out his window and lamenting the lack of snowboarding opportunities. “I definitely prefer icy roads and snow more than anything going on here right now.”
Ski resorts were already suffering During a difficult season, but the lack of snow was persistent enough that concerns were growing about wider impacts.
Oregon, Colorado and Utah reported the lowest statewide snowpack since the early 1980s, according to records.
Dry January means that most states received half or even less average rainfall. Combined with sunny days and above-average temperatures, that means little snow accumulation in a month that historically sees heavy snow accumulation across much of the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rockies. Scientists said that because of heavy rains in December, California was in a better position than other states.
As of Monday, it had been 327 days since Salt Lake City International Airport had received an inch of snow, making it the longest stretch since 1890-91, according to the National Weather Service.
Little snow in Colorado and Utah has put the upper Colorado River Basin in the heart of the snow drought, Gerlich said.
The powerful mountain snowpack that slowly melts as winter warms through spring provides a steady flow of water to streams and rivers. This helps ensure enough water is available later in the year for agriculture, cities, hydropower systems and more.
But too little snow or too rapid melting means less water will feed rivers like the Colorado later in the season.
“This is a very big problem for the Colorado Basin,” said Daniel Swain of the UCLA Water Resources Institute.
Experts said the snow drought could start early forest fires season. The earlier-than-average disappearance of snow leaves the ground vulnerable to warmer weather in the spring and summer, causing soil and plants to dry out faster, said Daniel McEvoy, a researcher at the Western Regional Climate Center.
Although it is dry, the record low snowpack is mostly due to how warm the West is, which is linked to climate change caused by burning coal, oil and natural gas, several scientists said. Since Dec. 1, more than 8,500 daily high temperature records have been broken or tied in the West, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Much of the precipitation that normally falls as snow and remains in the mountains for months is instead falling as rain, which falls faster, Swain and other scientists said. It’s a problem for scientists He has warned with climate change.
Snow-free conditions happen from time to time, but it’s the warmth that has been so extreme that it’s easy to link to climate change, said Ross Schumacher, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Colorado State University and a Colorado State climatologist.
“It was so warm, especially in December, that it only snowed in the highest parts of the mountains,” McEvoy said. “Then we moved into January and it has been very dry almost everywhere for the last three to four weeks and has stayed warm.”
Forecasters expect wetter and colder weather across the West this week with some snow, so this could be the peak of the snow drought. But the weather will still be warmer than normal in many areas, and scientists are not optimistic that there will be enough snow.
“I don’t think there’s any way we’re going to get back to average or anywhere close to that,” Schumacher said. “But at least we can get rid of that deficit a little bit if he becomes more active.”
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