WASHINGTON - With snowfall diminishing at “statistically significant� rates, spring runoff coming earlier and a dead zone the size of Rhode Island in the ocean off the Oregon coast, senators were told Wednesday that global climate change is already being felt in the West.
Dam operators, water district managers, farmers, conservationists and scientists all predicted mounting problems as scarce water supplies dwindle further in an area stretching from the Pacific Northwest to the desert Southwest.
“The warming in the West can now confidently be attributed to rising greenhouse gases and are not explained by any combination of natural factors,� said Philip Mote, head of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington. [...]
Climate Changes Already Affecting the West, Experts Tell Senate
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Climate Changes Already Affecting the West, Experts Tell Senate
By Les Blumenthal
McClatchy Newspapers, 6/7/07
Straight to the Source