With the loss of whitebark pine, we expect earlier snowpack runoff in the spring, which will adversely affect fisheries and downstream communities, as well as agriculture.
Don't just consult with the scientists whose research shows us that rising temperatures will lead to less snowpack, earlier melt, and exacerbated drought.
"With higher temperatures, there's more evaporation from soils, more transpiration from plants, earlier melting of snowpack and relatively more rain rather than snow," explained Noah Diffenbaugh, a senior fellow and professor of earth system science at Stanford University. .
Also, how do the decreasing snowpack or early snowmelt factor in? The authors pursued their investigation by comparing satellite images from burned areas with a drought index.
The season for recharging the reservoirs has ended early because of low snowpack levels, he said.
These include more extreme temperature spikes as well as the earlier melting of winter snowpack and the creation of more favorable conditions for tree-killing mountain pine beetles.
At the same time, as snowpack melts earlier in the year, trees are coming under late-summer water stress that weakens their defenses against beetles.
Reduced mountain snowpack means earlier melt-offs and reduced stream volumes across the West and Northwest, affecting residential and agricultural water supplies, habitats for spawning fish and reduced hydroelectric power generation, the study found.
The models with high sublimation generally lose their snowpacks too early compared to observations and underpredict the annual runoff.
