6 Places Where Melting Snow Means Less Drinking Water
All basins will likely have less water from snowpack as the planet warms. But some regions will be in worse shape than others, a new report says.
Climate scientists have a pretty good idea what is going to happen to much of the Earth’s snow as the planet warms over the next century: It’s going to melt. But the melting will occur at different rates in different places, which has major implications for the 2 billion people who rely on snowmelt for water.
What’s more, over the next few decades, some areas are likely to see increased snow and rainfall as climate changes in complicated ways.
“Such confounding factors complicate how water managers will be able to respond to climate change,” says Justin Mankin, a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
In order to help water providers better forecast their supply, Mankin led a team of scientists in
