Huge winter and hostile politics headline western climate forum

Transcription

1 Huge winter and hostile politics headline western climate forum Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal Published 4:18 p.m. PT April 6, 2017 Updated 6 hours ago California and Nevada scientists studying huge winter ponder uncertain future Buy Photo Washoe Lake is seen just south of Reno on April 5, 2017.(Photo: JASON BEAN/RGJ, RENO GAZETTE- JOURNAL-USA TODAY NETWORK)Buy Photo 29 CONNECTTWEET 2 LINKEDINCOMMENT MORE The mountain snowpack is fat but funding to unravel what it means for western communities and the environment is thin. That s the dynamic facing scientists who study climate, snow and water in California and Nevada. They gathered Thursday for the fifth Great Basin Climate Forum at the Desert Research Institute in Reno to watch presentations about the drought-busting winter season. They also talked about how hostility from President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress could undermine scientific research into climate, water and fire behavior that shape the environment of the western United States.

2 The idea is to give people lots of opportunity to talk to each other, said forum organizer Tamara Wall, deputy director of the Western Regional Climate Center. I think it is fair to say the funding for climate is looking different than it did a year ago. Climate research under fire Wall said she s bracing for double-digit percentage cuts to scientific efforts to understand the changing climate, an area of research more than half of the researchers at the forum said was their top concern. Watch: Skiing central Nevada's Toiyabe Range. That could mean less money to pay for things like maintenance for snow and climate monitoring equipment that western communities rely on for weather, snowpack and flooding forecasts. Before the election Trump declared climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese despite clear and substantiated data that shows carbon emissions from human activity are warming the planet more quickly than natural forces. Since taking office he s ordered government officials hostile to climate research to undo earlier efforts to minimize human impact on the climate. And his early budget proposals seek drastic cuts to programs and departments that deal with environmental and climate research and regulation. Buy Photo Washoe Lake is seen just south of Reno on April 5, (Photo: JASON BEAN/RGJ, RENO GAZETTE- JOURNAL-USA TODAY NETWORK)

3 It s clear that climate is not going to be a priority, is not a priority, of the current administration, Wall said. With uncertain future funding researchers are doing all they can to protect the existing infrastructure. They discussed a private effort to raise money for a weather station on Slide Mountain near Reno. At about 9,700 feet it s one of the few high elevation stations of its kind and was particularly special to the late climate researcher Kelly Redmond, an atmospheric sciences professor at Desert Research Institute who died in November. Buy Photo Andy Barron/RGJ Little Washoe Lake is full again on Wednesday after the recent rain storm. (Photo: Andy Barron/RGJ) The money will go toward protecting the station from the heavy snow and extreme winds to which it is exposed. One of his all-time favorites was Slide Mountain, Wall said through tears as she remembered Redmond. It is a weather station that takes a pretty severe beating but it provides really valuable observational data. Researching the west s monster winter Even as the scientists mourned the loss of an admired colleague and lamented political hostility for their work they managed to power through research presentations. Weather and climate research is critical to the short and long term health of communities in the Great Basin and Eastern Sierra. That s because, as the presentations showed, climate research helps people, plants and wildlife survive and thrive in a region that s defined by drastic swings in temperature and precipitation.

4 Buy Photo Washoe Lake is seen just south of Reno on April 5, (Photo: JASON BEAN/RGJ, RENO GAZETTE- JOURNAL-USA TODAY NETWORK) The sudden swing from deep drought to widespread flooding gave them plenty to study in recent months. It is a mess everywhere, said Tim Bardsley, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Reno during a presentation on snow and water levels in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin. You can t even begin to summarize some of the impacts seen during this winter. Bardsley s presentation looked at runoff projections for the Eastern Sierra and Great Basin in the coming months. It forecast about 600,000 acre-feet of flow through the Truckee River from April to July, a dramatic increase over the average flow of a little more than 200,000 acre-feet. The situation on the Carson River is similar. To further complicate matters Bardsley showed how the amount of water in the system drastically exceeds available storage.

5 Buy Photo The Toiyabe Range is seen from the Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area in central Nevada on April 1, (Photo: JASON BEAN/RGJ, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL-USA TODAY NETWORK) For example, the amount of water forecast for the Humboldt River exceeds available storage on April 1 by six times. There s an even bigger discrepancy between incoming flows and available storage on the lower Carson River. The information is what water managers and emergency planners use to forecast potential floods and avert downstream problems. Federal, state and local officials have already used climate and weather research to make decisions for an urgent canal and culvert project to avert flooding in Fallon. We are going to have elevated flows for a very long time, Bardsley said. The Walker and Carson (rivers) are high on the freak out scale. Another presentation by Nina Oakley, regional climatologist for the Western Regional Climate Center, sought to put the most recent winter into perspective. By nearly every measuring stick it was a monster winter but not necessarily the biggest on record. I don t say the biggest ever despite what some of the ski resorts say, Oakley said. It was the second wettest October through February in 123 years of recordkeeping in Nevada, and the wettest for northwestern Nevada. January was the wettest all-time month in Reno and the fifth-highest snowfall in Tahoe City.

6 The April snowpack in Nevada varied from 110 to 220 percent of normal and California as a whole saw the sixth highest snowpack since She also highlighted a map showing how the topography of the western United States helps atmospheric rivers, which are essentially plumes of wet air that carry precipitation from the ocean, from the San Francisco Bay to northwestern Wyoming. The path of that line is no accident, Oakley said. This is a favorite corridor for atmospheric rivers. In addition to showing how moisture moved across the west, Oakley showed how the most recent winter could have delivered even more snow with cooler conditions. Warm storms in December melted much of the early snowpack before it started to rebuild itself in January. The late December shrinkage of the pack was an example of the snow drought phenomena. That s when winter storms deliver rain but not snow. As the climate warms there s a chance future winters could see more snow drought conditions. If you could lower the temperature of every storm that comes through you would see a much bigger snowpack, Oakley said. I think what we will see more in the future is warm storms that take a toll on the snowpack. 29 CONNECTTWEET 2 LINKEDINCOMMENT MORE