A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that nearly 300 glaciers in the western United States have disappeared since the 1960s, and the total glacier area has shrunk by about a third as warming continues.
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that nearly 300 glaciers in the western United States have disappeared since the 1960s, and the total glacier area has shrunk by about a third as warming continues.
Nearly 300 glaciers gone and the study’s headline number is “a third of the area.” Cool, so which third did we lose, and how many more before someone at the state level admits the water budget was never built for this? Every western reservoir plan I’ve read assumes snowpack that’s been quietly shrinking for decades. Who is still signing off on those assumptions, and why does nobody ever name them?