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Environmental Science

How Snowmelt Timing Alters Downstream River Regimes

Quick fact

In the western U.S., snowmelt provides up to 75% of annual streamflow, and climate warming has already caused peak spring melt to occur up to 3 weeks earlier in some basins.

Why this is interesting

You've probably seen a river swell after a summer thunderstorm, but in snow-fed valleys, the biggest flood of the year often arrives on a sunny spring day when it hasn't rained in weeks. Why?