Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

WATER RESOURCES

Implications of losing snowpack

Nature Climate Change volume 10, pages 388–390 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Snow in the mountains provides a natural reservoir, storing water in the cold season for use later in the year. Now research demonstrates that reduced mountain snowpack due to rising temperatures makes drought harder to predict and jeopardizes irrigated agriculture throughout the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: How snow changes seasonal water supply in rivers.

References

  1. Barnett, T. P., Adam, J. C. & Lettenmaier, D. P. Nature 438, 303–309 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hock, R. G. et al. in IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (eds Pörtner, H.-O.) Ch. 2 (in the press).

  3. Qin, Y. et al. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0746-8 (2020).

  4. Livneh, B. & Badger, A. M. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0754-8 (2020).

  5. Strum, M., Goldstein, M. A. & Parr, C. Water Resour. Res. 53, 3534–3544 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Jeton, A. E., Dettinger, M. D. & Smith, J. L. Potential Effects of Climate Change on Streamflow, Eastern and Western Slopes of the Sierra Nevada, California and Nevada. Report no. 95-4260 (U.S. Geological Survey, 1996).

  7. Lundquist, J., Hughes, M., Gutmann, E. & Kapnick, S. B. Am. Meteorol. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0001.1 (2019).

  8. Lempert, R. et al. in Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment Vol. 2 (eds Reidmiller, D. R. et al.) 1309–1345 (U. S. Global Change Research Program, 2018).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aspen Global Change Institute, Basalt, CO, USA

    Julie A. Vano

Authors
  1. Julie A. Vano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie A. Vano.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vano, J.A. Implications of losing snowpack. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 388–390 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0769-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0769-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene