Global Warming Shrinks Seasonal Snowpack, Threatens Water Stability

Over 2 billion people live in snow-dependent areas nearing 'snow-loss cliff', a temperature threshold beyond which snow losses accelerate.

New research reveals that seasonal snowpack across the Northern Hemisphere has significantly reduced over the last 40 years due to global warming, potentially endangering millions of people with worsening water instability.
The study identified a 'snow-loss cliff,' a temperature threshold at which marginal temperature increases imply larger and larger snow losses. This threshold is 17 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roughly 2.1 billion people live in snow-dependent hydrologic basins that are either at, or just on the other side of, the temperature threshold.
The sharpest drops in snowpack were observed in the Southwestern and Northeastern United States, as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
The findings have serious implications for places that depend on snowpack as a source of water, including California, which has lost about 20% of its snowpack over the last 40 years due to climate change.