What Climate Change in the Rockies Means for its Water

[unhappycamper]

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-in-the-rockies-water-supply-17891



Dust on the snowpack in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The dust, blown from deserts west of the mountains, speeds the melting of snow.

What Climate Change in the Rockies Means for its Water
Bobby Magill
August 12th, 2014

In the West, Colorado is known as a “headwaters” state because most of the region’s biggest rivers begin in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

The Colorado River. The Arkansas River. The Rio Grande. The San Juan River. The Platte River — North and South. Altogether, they provide 19 states with drinking and irrigation water, including the cities of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Denver, among many others.

All of the water in those rivers comes from one source: the Rocky Mountains’ snowpack, which is expected to shrink as temperatures rise in a warming climate.



Trail Ridge Road passes through Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park in May 2012, when the snowpack had nearly disappeared at a time when it is usually many feet deep.

That’s why a new report by Colorado’s state water authorities showing how climate change will affect water supply there is so important. How much water is going to be coursing down these rivers in a warming world is highly uncertain, and that means the millions of people downstream of Colorado have a lot at stake.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Population growth here in Colorado is projected to continue at a rapid rate

in spite of the water supply. We werre lucky last winter, so the water supply has been adequate this summer, but disaster is clearly on its way.

In terms of fires and erosion and the death of forests, it's already here.

[OnlinePoker]

2. There's a webcam at the Alpine Visitor Center on Trail Ridge Road

It looks like a nice view. I don't know if it operates during the winter months, though. Here's a link to the 4 webcams in Rocky Mountain National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/romo/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm