Partial photo: Joshua Peacock
Climate change is driving extreme, interconnected events among earth-system elements such as weather and water in the vast Colorado River basin. These are becoming more frequent and more intense. High temperatures and unseasonable rain that quickly melt mountain snowpack to cause downstream floods, are projected to increase and intensify. Over 40 million people depend on the basin for water, and it directly supports $1.4 trillion in agricultural and commercial activity — roughly one thirteenth of our economy, according to 2014 figures. In Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, flooding, drought, freezing events, wildfire, severe storms, and winter storms have cost approximately $40 billion between 1980-2020.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210408112332.htm