Packed onto the slopes of the Sierra Nevada is a precious source of water for California — a frozen reservoir that climate change is already transforming.
As the planet warms, the spring snowpack is dwindling. The snow is creeping up mountainsides to higher elevations, melting earlier in the year and seeping into dry soils rather than washing into rivers and streams that feed reservoirs.
The risks are no longer futuristic or theoretical: The state’s projections for how much water to expect from the Sierra Nevada were so far from reality last spring that reforming the process has become increasingly urgent.
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