The study appeared in NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science and was a follow-up study to one completed in 2005. The study found California had the most gains in snowpack since 1955, but recent droughts erased those gains and caused the snowpack to fall in many locations. Eastern Oregon and northern Nevada saw the worst decreases in snowpack over the span of the study. Individual sites in California, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Arizona saw snowpack declines of more than 70 per cent, the study found. Snowpack levels are below average in the western U.S. so far in 2018 as well, he said.

Source: National Post March 02, 2018 21:12 UTC