I had a chance to head up into the Cascades for a story about snow earlier this week. The scenery - of course - was incredible. The snow-capped mountains and glacier-carved lakes were really amazing. But the story itself was about snow...or, perhaps more appropriately, the lack of it.
The snow is melting fairly quickly at lower elevations this year, and there is just less of it overall because of a relatively warm weather pattern in January. All this got me thinking about climate change and our water here in Oregon. As you probably know, a whopping two-thirds of our water comes from snowpack. And most scientists, including me, believe that as climate change continues our snowpack will be melting away sooner and sooner each year...leaving us with less and less snowpack - and water - for the dry summer months.
So, for those of you who have lived here a long time, how has the weather been changing here in Oregon over the past 10 or 20 years? And are you worried about our water supply as we head into the next several decades? Feel free to post your thoughts by clicking the 'Comments' link and then using the form on that webpage.