Winter is shrinking, Scripps study finds, posing new fire, water risks
Across the mountains of the West, the landscape of winter is changing.
Deep snowpacks that held fast through winter, then melted in a torrent each spring, are instead seeping away earlier in the year. The period of winter weather is shrinking, too, with autumn lasting longer and spring starting earlier.
The findings by Amato Evan, a professor of atmospheric and climate science with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, show changes to Western hydrology that could jeopardize water resources, flood control, fire management and winter recreation.
His results were published this month in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, and presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-no-20181221-story.html
