The climate?氣候

Man it does show signs of stopping

Late snowfall in the West is part of a pattern, increasing the risk of drought

第一段：

Every december residents of Denver,?Colorado hang holiday lights and decorate trees—and the occasional cactus—in their front yards. But this year one thing is missing from the festive picture: snow. As of December 8th, Denverites had yet to see any snow land on their yellowing lawns, making it the latest first snowfall since records began in 1882. And Colorado’s capital is not alone, for the white stuff is scarce this year across the American West. A new study suggests future winters might not bring much either.

每年12月，科羅拉多州丹佛市的居民都會(huì)在各家前院掛起節(jié)日彩燈，裝飾圣誕樹(shù)——偶爾也會(huì)裝飾仙人掌。但是今年，節(jié)日?qǐng)D景中卻缺了一樣?xùn)|西：雪。直到12月8日，丹佛居民還沒(méi)見(jiàn)到一片雪花飄落在自己泛黃的草地上，這是自1882年有記錄以來(lái)最遲的初雪。而這座科羅拉多州的首府并非特例，今年整個(gè)美國(guó)西部都普遍降雪稀少。一項(xiàng)新研究顯示，未來(lái)冬天也不一定會(huì)出現(xiàn)大降雪。

第二段：

The snow that builds up in mountain ranges over the winter, called snowpack, is a natural reservoir. In the spring, when it melts, its waters replenish rivers, man-made reservoirs and soil. The amount of water that makes it into reservoirs each year depends on temperatures, evaporation and run-off, or how much soaks into the ground. But warmer winters in the western states, one consequence of climate change, have led to a decline in average snowpack. One study published in 2018 found that annual snowpack in the region had decreased by 15-30% since 1915.

積雪就是冬天堆積在山脈中的雪，它是一個(gè)天然蓄水池。春天積雪融化，融水可以補(bǔ)充河流和人工水庫(kù)，滋潤(rùn)土壤。每年注入水庫(kù)的融水量，取決于氣溫、蒸發(fā)和徑流，或地下滲水量。但氣候變化的其中一個(gè)后果就是美國(guó)西部遭遇暖冬，這導(dǎo)致平均積雪量下降。2018年的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，自1915年以來(lái)該地區(qū)年積雪量已減少了15-30%。

第三段：

The future looks bleaker still. A new paper by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California found that mountain snowpack in the West could decline by an average of 25% by 2050. The rate varies across four mountain ranges studied. The Sierras and the Cascades could see a 45% decline in snowpack by mid-century, compared with 20-30% declines for the Rockies and the Wasatch/Uinta. So a snowless future seems more imminent in California and the Pacific Northwest than further inland.

前景則更為慘淡。加利福尼亞州勞倫斯伯克利國(guó)家實(shí)驗(yàn)室的研究員發(fā)表了一篇新論文，指出到2050年美國(guó)西部山區(qū)積雪量平均或會(huì)減少25%。具體比率在本研究所涉及的四座山脈中有所不同。到本世紀(jì)中，內(nèi)華達(dá)山脈和卡斯卡特山脈的積雪量將下降45%，而洛基山脈和瓦薩奇/尤因塔山脈的積雪量或會(huì)下降20-30%。因此，對(duì)于加利福尼亞州和太平洋西北地區(qū)，未來(lái)冬季無(wú)雪似乎比內(nèi)陸地區(qū)更為迫在眉睫。

第四段：

The West has had bouts of “snow drought” before. But they look set to become more common. Researchers suggest that California could experience persistent “l(fā)ow-to-no snow” by the 2050s with the Rocky Mountain states following in the 2070s. Many places are already preparing for a drier future. California’s Department of Water Resources recently warned that next year the State Water Project, a storage and delivery system that runs through the middle of the state, will initially only provide water for “health and safety” needs. Arizona is readying for cuts to its allotment of the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40m people across the south-west.

過(guò)去西部也爆發(fā)過(guò)“雪荒”。但看起來(lái)“雪荒”將變得更為普遍。研究人員估計(jì)，到本世紀(jì)50年代，加利福尼亞可能會(huì)長(zhǎng)期出現(xiàn)“低到無(wú)雪”情況，到70年代，位于落基山脈的各州將會(huì)經(jīng)歷同一狀況。很多地方已開(kāi)始為未來(lái)缺水做準(zhǔn)備。加利福尼亞水資源部門(mén)最近發(fā)出警告，下一年，加州調(diào)水工程（這是一個(gè)貫穿加州中部的儲(chǔ)水運(yùn)水系統(tǒng)）將只為“健康和安全”需求供水。亞利桑那州則準(zhǔn)備削減科羅拉多河的取水配額，科羅拉多河為整個(gè)西南部的4千萬(wàn)居民供水。