Sentences with phrase «spring snowpack»

Warming has already contributed to decreases in spring snowpack and Colorado River flows, which are an important source of water for the region.

This is an indication that the spring snowpack is not cold enough to lead to substantial refreezing of meltwater.

While this year's snowpack is fairly healthy, in a world warming from increasing greenhouse gases, the early spring snowpack has been declining over the long run.

One of the biggest drivers in this trend is disappearing spring snowpack, which is tied to a mix of rising temperatures and more rain melting it earlier than usual.

Given that the long - term trend in early spring snowpack is down, Climate Central recently examined how the type of precipitation is changing during the winter months nationwide.

It also serves as a long - term measurement, as in a warming world, the spring snowpack will melt more quickly as summer nears.

Sea levels are rising (ask the Mayor of Miami who has spent tax monies to raise road levels), we've had 15 of the hottest years eve measured, more precipitation is coming down in heavy doses (think Houston), we're seeing more floods and drought than ever before (consistent with predictions), the oceans are measuring warmer, lake ice in North America is thawing sooner (where it happens in northern states and Canada), most glaciers are shrinking, early spring snowpacks out west have declined since the 1950's, growing seasons are longer throughout the plains, bird wintering ranges have moved north, leaf and bloom dates recorded by Thoreau in Walden have shifted in that area, insect populations that used to have one egg - larva - adult cycle in the summer now have two, the list goes on and on.

Not exact matches

Indeed, thanks to a snowy winter and cool spring, the snowpack covering the entire Pacific Northwest — the vast majority of which is over 1,000 metres elevation and still snowbound — is creating a glut of zero - emission energy as that huge annual reservoir melts and powers hydroelectric turbines.

I just think with a little over 3 weeks left of official winter, I'm looking forward to spring backcountry skiing, longer days, and hopefully some big ass spring storms to replenish that high country snowpack.

The Bureau of Reclamation will revisit the situation in August, after the spring and summer runoff from mountain snowpack has found its way into the reservoirs.

This melting snow comes from snowpack, the high elevation reservoir of snow which melts in the spring and summer.

Changes in flow patterns of warm Pacific Ocean air from the south were driving earlier spring snowmelt, while decreasing summer sea ice had the greatest influence on later onset of snowpack in the fall.

«If we have a warmer spring, we anticipate that the river flows will be less relative to the amount of snowpack.»

In contrast, under clear skies and low humidity the snow can become colder than the air, preserving the snowpack until spring.

That's a pretty strong message: that historically, low snowpack and warm spring go hand in hand.»

This year, heavy snowpack and spring precipitation have brought the region some relief by partially refilling the reservoirs.

The lakes receive a large amount of runoff in the spring from the melting snowpack.

A 2016 report by the Bureau of Reclamation predicts that the basin's snowpack is likely to decrease, stemming the flow of runoff in spring and early summer.

«The usual climate here is that we come out of winter with a pretty good snowpack, and then that slowly melts over spring into summer,» State Climatologist Nick Bond said.

For example, below - average winter precipitation can lead to smaller mountain snowpack volumes, which tend to result in shorter duration spring runoff (Hamlet and Lettenmaier 1999; Stewart et al. 2004; Moore et al. 2007; Whitfield 2013).

Most studies agree that general declines in snowpack across the West have resulted from warming spring temperatures (Mote 2003; Hamlet et al. 2005; Mote et al. 2005; Abatzoglou 2011; Kapnick and Hall 2012; Pederson et al. 2013a; Lute et al. 2015); however, declines in winter precipitation may also be important (Clow 2010).

Warming temperatures over the next century, especially during spring, are likely to reduce snowpack at mid and low elevations.

Winter and spring mountain snowpack provide a crucial water source across much of the western United States.

However, drought conditions expanded and intensified in parts of the Northwest due to lack of snowpack from the winter and spring seasons and in the Northeast.

In the Rocky Mountains, spring (February - March) warming since the 1980s has been largely responsible for recent snowpack declines at mid - and low - elevation sites (Pederson et al. 2013b).

Spring and summer temperatures have been rising across the West, and mountain snowpack has been melting earlier.

Alaska had paltry snowpack that quickly disappeared, thanks to the second - warmest spring on record for the state.

In terms of winter precipitation, Pacific storms, bringing heavy precipitation to large parts of the West, produced high snowpack that will provide welcome runoff this spring.

Could be they leave space behind dams for possible flooding — for instance if your watershed is a snowpack, it'll either melt slowly if the weather stays cold, or melt suddenly in warm spring rains and send a lot of water downstream.

Snowfall varies across the region, comprising less than 10 % of total precipitation in the south, to more than half in the north, with as much as two inches of water available in the snowpack at the beginning of spring melt in the northern reaches of the river basins.81 When this amount of snowmelt is combined with heavy rainfall, the resulting flooding can be widespread and catastrophic (see «Cedar Rapids: A Tale of Vulnerability and Response»).82 Historical observations indicate declines in the frequency of high magnitude snowfall years over much of the Midwest, 83 but an increase in lake effect snowfall.61 These divergent trends and their inverse relationships with air temperatures make overall projections of regional impacts of the associated snowmelt extremely difficult.

While a low snowpack in the mountains is undesirable, the low snowpack in eastern North Dakota does have a bright side as there are no concerns of spring flooding in the Red River Valley at this time.

Climate disruption is resulting in diminishing winter snowpacks and rapid spring runoff, thereby depriving farmers of this valuable asset, and for much of the world, there are no known substitutes.

Winter balance of Easton Glacier measured in the spring near the time of maximum snowpack, April 1 snowpack swe from the five Snotel sites, and with maximum snowpack swe from Schrieber's Meadow 1000 m below the glacier ELA.

Upcoming rains will bolster spring runoff (but probably also melt quite a bit of snowpack; see below).

In addition to the precipitation, California saw a considerable increase in its snowpack, which will help keep the state out of drought conditions this spring and summer when it begins to melt.

Sixty percent of annual precipitation falls primarily as snow in the winter and spring months from October to April, and the melting of the resulting snowpack accounts for 80 to 90 % of annual stream flow [29].

Given that late spring / early summer NH snowpack has been showing a decline for many years, we can hardly get a cooling from that.

And in California, which gets about 75 to 80 percent of its freshwater from the Sierra Nevada snowpack, that combination of rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation, particularly in the winter and early spring, could prove especially dangerous.

Snowpack is melting earlier as winter and spring temperatures rise, and in most states an increasing percentage of winter precipitation is falling as rain, meaning there is often less snowpack to begSnowpack is melting earlier as winter and spring temperatures rise, and in most states an increasing percentage of winter precipitation is falling as rain, meaning there is often less snowpack to begsnowpack to begin with.

Species that live downslope will also be hurt by changes on mountaintops; the Sierra Nevada mountain yellow - legged frog, for example, depends on runoff from snowpack year - round to support its three - to four - year life stage as a tadpole, and earlier spring snowmelt runoff caused by global warming may leave this hardy, once - abundant creature high and dry in the summertime.

This is a particular worry for areas like the Alps, where snowpack is melting ever - earlier as unseasonably warm temperatures begin earlier in the spring and creep deeper into the fall.

Snowpack in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, which provides water for power generation, was down as much as 50 percent in some areas in spring, McCorkle said.

The study found that, on average, temperatures during winter and spring had increased during the study period and the amount of the snow - water equivalent (or the water in the snowpack) decreased by 25 percent.

The 10 - year period ending in 2007 witnessed fewer severe cold snaps than any other 10 - year period since record keeping began in 1895.2 These changes can not be explained by natural variation, and correspond very well with computer simulations that include human influences on climate.3 Snow cover has decreased in most regions, especially in the spring, and mountain snowpack has also decreased in several regions.4

For example, the projected increase in extremely low precipitation and extremely high temperature during spring and autumn has substantial implications for snowpack water storage, wildfire risk, and terrestrial ecosystems (47).

Further, California's seasonal snowpack (which resides almost entirely in the Sierra Nevada Mountains) provides a critical source of runoff during the low - precipitation spring and summer months.

If it is warm in normally Spring here for La Nina, there there is no Sierra snowpack and in late Spring reservoirs are not filled as the water already ran out, so this is called «drought».

One of the biggest reasons for this is warming temperatures, which are impacting snowpack and ushering in an earlier spring.

But peak water flow is typically a seasonal event driven by snowpack melt, so the price - reducing effect of hydropower normally lasts only a few months each year, typically in the spring and early summer.

The lack of snowfall and snowpack for the winter of 2011/2012 and the following spring was a precursor to the large drought episode that impacted two - thirds of the nation during the following summer and autumn.