Researchers Find “Snow Loss Cliff” That Predicts Rapid Snowpack Decrease in River Basins

Both the Washington Post and AP News have written articles discussing a new study by researches from Dartmouth College that finds the Northern Hemisphere is soon approaching a “snow loss cliff,” or a set of conditions where the snowpack associated with many river basins will experience rapid declines.

The study’s authors found a key temperature benchmark that determines the future health of a region’s snowpack. In places where the winter temperature average is 17.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the snowpack will survive. In places where the average is above that, snowpack will rapidly decrease. This has a significant effect on water supply, as billions of people rely on water generated from seasonal snowpack melt for drinking, irrigation, and more. As the earth is currently undergoing rapid shifts in climate, members should be prepared for when critical assumptions regarding water supply change. Read more at the Washington Post and AP News.