Not only are glaciers thinning: In the last half-century, the warm-
ing climate has made snow “drier”—reducing the water content of the
region’s springtime snowpack and straining the supply of summer-
time water for drinking and the irrigation of crops.
Philip Mote, the climate scientist, made that discovery. A wiry guy
with a small moustache and even-keel demeanor, Mote calls himself an
optimist when it comes to climate change. He rides his bike to work at
the University of Washington in Seattle, despite free parking at his
building, partly to do what he can to help reduce greenhouse gases,
partly to keep trim and sleep well. He attached a trailer to his bicycle to
ferry his youngest child to day care until his kids grew old enough to
go to school; now he sometimes joins them when they all bicycle 1.25
miles one way to school. Just about every scientist in Mote’s depart-
ment—the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group, a consortium of
scientists studying climate change—rides a bike to work or takes pub-
lic transportation. One colleague does not even own a car. Helping
solidify Mote’s commitment to commute by bicycle is his latest dis-
covery that the region’s snowpack already holds less water. Excitement
starts to ripple in his voice.
“I was shocked at how big these declines in snowpack are,” says
Mote. “There’s already a clearer regional signal of warming in the
mountains than we expected.” He points out that he intentionally cast
a wide net when he embarked on his research, so the bad news affects
a large audience—people living in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and
Montana west of the Continental Divide, plus the Columbia River
basin in Canada’s British Columbia. “Just about everywhere, we’ve
seen declines in snowpack of 20, 30 percent. And that’s muchbigger
than I expected,” Mote says.
The snow that falls onto mountaintops is not just pretty for hikers
to look at—it is the summertime water supply for surrounding cities,
towns, and rural communities. Less snow in the mountains means
less snow will melt throughout the summer to be used as drinking
water. Already, parts of the region suffer periodic water shortages. So
Mote’s discovery presents grim news for cities such as Seattle and
Portland. The U.S. Census has predicted that by 2025, another 3.35
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