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.
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Shocking. Glaciers melt when it’s hot. Who saw that coming?
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?
Nearly 300 glaciers gone and a third of the ice area, and the comment section is still arguing about thermostats. Here’s the number that should sting: a glacier isn’t a lake you can refill with a hose. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good, and the rivers and reservoirs that depended on its summer melt start running dry right when everyone needs them most.
Nearly 300 glaciers gone and somehow the lesson is still “maybe check the thermostat later.” I live in a place where the snowpack is supposed to be the water supply for half the state, and every spring I watch the reservoir levels like it’s a sports score. Last summer the lake behind our dam sat at a line on the concrete that looked like a bathtub ring.
