snowmelt

In fact, though storms often precede flash floods, you don’t always have to see rain before flooding–snowmelt or precipitation might occur at a higher elevation and flow downhill.

The enhanced winter warming comes as a result of a positive feedback between warmer temperatures and snowmelt.

Similarly, McKenzie Skiles, a snow hydrologist at the University of Utah, has been modeling dust impacts on snowmelt in the mountains to try to get a fix on how that affects the region’s water supply and quality.

As the region becomes hotter and drier, necessitating more extraction from the aquifer, less water trickles in from monsoons or snowmelt to replenish it.

Eventually, snowmelt and glacier melt—two important sources of water for the country—will dwindle to a trickle.