“That’s how sensitive the system is to snow — one single degree of temperature change,” said Amir AghaKouchak, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine. “The implications are huge, both for ecosystems that don’t get a lot of attention and also drinking water.” AghaKouchak and Laurie Huning, an assistant professor of civil engineering at California State University, Long Beach, published the first global analysis of snow drought in 2020. They found that several mountain regions saw an uptick in snow drought intensity, length and frequency in the first 18 years of this century compared to the 19 years preceding it. Read More