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Climate Action
Report 2002
The United States of America's Third National
Communication Under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
Chapter 6: Impacts and Adaptation
May 2002
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FIGURE 6-9 Projected Reductions in Western
Snowpack Resulting from Potential Changes in Climate
Climate model scenarios for the 21st century
project significant decreases from the 1961 -- 1990 baseline in the average April
1 snowpack for four mountainous areas in the western United States. Scenarios
from the Canadian model, which simulates warming toward the upper end of IPCC
projections, and from the Hadley model, which simulates warming near the middle
of IPCC projections, provide similar results. Such a steep reduction in the
April 1 snowpack would significantly shift the time of peak runoff and reduce
average river flows in spring and summer.
Source: Redrawn from McCabe and Wolock
1999, as presented in NAST 2000.
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