Scientists say they have enough data to say with certainty that global warming is affecting snow pack and water resources in the West. (Photo courtesy of National Park Service)
A new study says climate change has made water conditions worse in the west. The study, published in the journal Science, says humans are responsible for the bulk of the change. Steve Zelaznik reports:
Transcript
A new study says climate change has made water conditions worse in the West. The study, published in the journal Science, says humans are responsible for the bulk of the change. Steve Zelaznik reports:
Over the last fifty years the West has been warming. There has been more rain, and less snow. The rivers flood earlier; the summers are drier; and the air is warmer.
These changes have been documented before. But now scientists say they know why.
Climatologist Tim Barnett of the University of California San Diego co-authored the study. Barnett says he’s nearly certain humans are responsible.
“So roughly the chances that we got tricked are either one in a hundred to one in a thousand. And I’ll take those odds to Vegas with me any day.”
Barnett says water conditions will only continue to get worse in the coming decades in the west. He predicts some dams may run dry in the next fifteen years.
For the Environment Report, I’m Steve Zelaznik.