Friday Top of the Scroll: This winter’s rain and snow won’t be enough to pull the West out of drought
This winter, the West has been slammed by wet weather. An “atmospheric river” has pummeled California with weeks of heavy rain, and the Rocky Mountains are getting buried with snow. That’s good news for the Colorado River, where all that moisture hints at a possible springtime boost for massive reservoirs that have been crippled by drought. Climate scientists, though, say the 40 million people who use the river’s water should take the good news with a grain of salt. The flakes that pile up high in the Rockies are crucial for the Colorado River — a water lifeline for people from Wyoming to Mexico in an area commonly referred to as the Colorado River basin. Before water flows through rivers, pipelines and canals to cities and farms across the region, it starts as high-altitude snow.
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