It may seem strange to ponder snow in August, but many utilities and resource managers in the West think about it year-round.

Snowpack – literally, accumulated snow in the mountains – is a critical water source that keeps cities, farms and forests hydrated well into the warm months, if there’s enough of it.

In a newly published study, environmental scientist Adrienne Marshall and colleagues project that “snow droughts,” or multiyear stretches with low snow, could become much more common across the West as climate change intensifies. That could mean drinking water shortages, drier forests and brown ski slopes – an unwelcome sight in any season.

Also today: all mass murderers aren’t mentally ill, sanctions against Venezuela came too late and tips for communicating with autistic kids.

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A valuable resource: Snowpack on Oregon’s Mt. Hood. USDA NRCS/Spencer Miller

Climate change will mean more multiyear snow droughts in the West

Adrienne Marshall, University of Idaho

New research forecasts that climate change will make multiyear stretches with low snow levels more common across western North America – bad news for water managers, farmers, foresters and skiers.

Health + Medicine

  • Can experts determine who might be a mass killer?

    Arash Javanbakht, Wayne State University

    In the wake of yet more mass murders, people want answers. Some questions that arise about the tragedies relate to mental illness. A psychiatrist answers three here.

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