GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Colorado has warmed substantially in the last 30 years and even more over the last 50 years. Future estimates project temperatures rising an additional 2.5 °F to 5 °F by 2050. This means the warmest summers from our past may become the average summers in our future.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Colorado River’s average annual flow shrunk 20 percent in the last 30 years-half of that is directly attributable to climate change. The impact throughout the Basin is clear especially when considering that its two large reservoirs-Lake Mead and Lake Powell-are at all-time lows.

Detailed explanation-3: -The U.S. Global Research Program’s report said snowpack has decreased since the 1950s in Colorado, due to earlier melting and less precipitation falling as snow, resulting in April snowpack declining by 20% to 60% at most monitoring sites in the state.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Colorado River is drying up due to a combination of chronic overuse of water resources and a historic drought. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, spurred by a warming climate primarily due to humans burning fossil fuels.