We’re Getting Less Snow, And It’s Having A Big Impact On The Environment

Researchers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire have been poring over 100  years of available snow data across the globe — which includes everything from simple measurements with yardsticks to sophisticated calculations using automated sensors and satellite photos — to quantify just how much of a decline there’s been, and now they have some early results.

In a new study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in November that’s focused on the Western United States, researchers found declines as big as 30% over the past century, which are directly linked to proceeding summertime droughts and consistent with climate change caused by human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels.

“Most places are 10 to 15 inches behind,” said Mark Wysocki, a climatologist at Cornell University who was not affiliated with the study. “I think people are going to be very disappointed up here in the Northeast with winters. That doesn’t mean we can’t get a blizzard. It's just that we won’t get as many of them.”

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