Climate science tells us that mountain snowpack is decreasing in the western United States due to anthropogenic climate change. Funded in part by CPO’s RISA Program, a new study examines changes in the variability of snowpack conditions between years, for historical and future climate scenarios. The paper, co-authored by Pacific Northwest RISA investigator John T. Abatzoglou, finds that “variability of annual maximum snowpack between years decreases while the timing of peak snow accumulation becomes more variable, particularly in areas transitioning from snow- to rain-dominated precipitation.” It also finds that, due to climate change, “consecutive years with very low or early snowpack will become much more frequent.”
