“When we sweat, water evaporates from our skin, and that evaporation acts as a cooling mechanism for our body,” says Amir AghaKouchak, [professor, civil and environmental engineering], a climate scientist at the University of California, Irvine. “Earth’s surface works the same way.” Agha Kouchak and a colleague Laurie Huning recently found that in the western U.S., snow droughts lasted 28 percent longer after 2000, compared with the previous 20 years. And the effects cascade. Less snow can lead to drier soils, which can increase the chance of heat waves, which dry soils further. Read More