Winter melt trends portend widespread declines in snow water resources

Keith N. Musselman (), Nans Addor, Julie A. Vano and Noah P. Molotch
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Keith N. Musselman: University of Colorado Boulder
Nans Addor: University of Exeter
Julie A. Vano: Aspen Global Change Institute
Noah P. Molotch: University of Colorado Boulder

Nature Climate Change, 2021, vol. 11, issue 5, 418-424

Abstract: Abstract In many mountainous regions, winter precipitation accumulates as snow that melts in the spring and summer, which provides water to one billion people globally. Climate warming and earlier snowmelt compromise this natural water storage. Although snowpack trend analyses commonly focus on the snow water equivalent (SWE), we propose that trends in the accumulation season snowmelt serve as a critical indicator of hydrological change. Here we compare long-term changes in the snowmelt and SWE from snow monitoring stations in western North America and find 34% of stations exhibit increasing winter snowmelt trends (P

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01014-9

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