News Release: "Less Snow, Less Water" Report, continued

Third, in each river basin, snowpacks are in decline. At NRCS snowpack-measurement sites with records going back to 1961, compared to historical (1961-1990) averages for those sites, April 1 snowpack levels from 1990 on have been:

• Below average for 13 of those last 16 years in the Columbia basin. Over the 16-year period (1990-2005), April 1 snowpack levels at these sites have averaged 15.4% below the historical average.

• Below average for 11 of those last 16 years in the Colorado basin. The 1990-2005 average for these sites is 10.5% below the historical average.

• Below average for 14 of 16 years in the Missouri basin. The 1990-2005 average is 16.1% below the historical average.

• Below average for 10 of 16 years in the Rio Grande basin. The 1990-2005 average is 10.8% below the historical average.

These calculations differ from those reported by NRCS, which uses the period 1971-2000 as the baseline against which snowpack levels are compared. Including recent years in the baseline lowers the baseline and masks the recent decline in snowpacks.

Additional Expert Commentary

Dr. Philip Mote of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington is available to discuss with reporters this general subject and his research. Dr. Mote is the state climatologist for the state of Washington, lead author of “Declining Mountain Snowpack in Western North America” (published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in January 2005), and a lead author (on snow) of the forthcoming Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Dr. Mote can be reached at (206) 616-5346 or philip@atmos.washington.edu.