Snowpack in the West is melting rapidly. Where will all that extra water go?
It's getting hot out West -- and those scorching temperatures are rapidly thawing incredible amounts of snowpack in the mountains. It's getting hot out West -- and those scorching temperatures are rapidly thawing the incredible amounts of snowpack that accumulated in the mountain ranges over a very active wet season. Now, water utility experts and environmental experts are working to ensure the freshwater running down the mountainsides won't go to waste. The West is coming off an early season heat wave that jumpstarted a mass liquification of precipitation that fell as snow in the highest elevations in the region. As the West Coast was slammed with round after round of atmospheric rivers, it brought up to 200% more snowpack than normal to places like the Sierra Nevada mountain range. MORE: Complications arise in the West as early heat wave causes snowpack to melt rapidly As the snow melts, many lakes and reservoirs in the region -- which were previously drying up due to a...