‘Two-headed hydra’ worsens regional flooding

Robert Mitchell, a hydrology professor at Western Washington University, works with numerical modeling to study how Western Cascade basins, including the Nooksack, are responding to warming climates.

He’s found that as temperatures rise, winter precipitation will increasingly fall as rain instead of snow and will melt more of the snowpack. The snow usually holds some of that water and forces it into the ground, so the end result is less of a buffer to soak up atmospheric rivers.

Mitchell said that dynamic has been on full display during recent flooding. He pointed to the Mount Baker Ski Area, which among other resorts had delayed opening due to low snow levels, as an example.