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Last week was the end of the snow year in Washington state, and snowpack ended the year averaging 109% of normal. It is the 12th time in the last 15 years that our snowpack has finished above average.
When Washington legislators and environmental activists push for costly and government-heavy environmental policies, they often cite the loss of snowpack as a justification for their crisis mentality. This session, HB 2311, which tightened Washington’s CO2-reduction targets, claimed “Our state is experiencing a climate emergency in the form of…lack of snowpack.” The data demonstrate this claim is simply wrong.
Legislators aren’t the only ones repeating this inaccurate claim. Investigate West released “a guide for journalists” on climate change that includes the claim, “winter snowpacks in the Cascades are already visibly shrinking.” On twitter they cited this archived page from the EPA during the Obama Administration, which points to “Trends in April Snowpack in the Western United States, 1955-2016.” There is a reason EPA staff chose 1955 – it is the highest snowpack of the last century across much of the west.
A complete graph of snowpack for most of the 20th century shows that in Washington state, snowpack reached a peak in 1955. Any trend beginning that year would show snowpack loss. Investigate West may not know that is the game being played here, but the EPA staff did. There is a problem with publishing a "guide for journalists" or anyone without having looked at or understanding the data they are sharing
This does not mean we should not address the risk of climate change. It does mean we should be honest about the science and data. And, it indicates that some have allowed a crisis mentality to substitute for thoughtfulness in how Washington legislators and activists discuss climate policy.