Repository logo
 

Climate change in Colorado

Abstract

This report is a synthesis of climate science relevant for management and planning for Colorado's water resources. This is an update from the 2014 report which focused on observed climate trends, climate modeling, and projections of temperature, precipitation, snowpack, and streamflow. In this update, the observed record is expanded. Additionally, it focuses on the release of new climate models and how they compare to the models used in the 2008 and 2014 reports. For this third Climate Change in Colorado, we cover a similar scope to the previous two reports. The core mission of the report is to describe recent trends in Colorado’s climate and hydrology and interpret the model-based projections of future climate and hydrology. Proportionately more of this report is devoted to extreme climate-driven events–including heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods–than the previous reports. The overall societal impacts of climate change will be driven by changes in these extreme events as well as by changes in the average climate. Chapter 2 provides analysis of observed and projected trends in temperature and precipitation. Chapter 3 provides analysis of observed and projected trends in Colorado’s water, including snowpack, streamflow volume and timing, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration. Chapter 4 focuses on hazards and extremes. When possible, quantitative analysis of observed and projected trends is included, otherwise a qualitative assessment of trends and possible future projections is included. The Appendix provides supplemental information on the observational climate dataset and the climate model projections used in the report.

Description

This report was led by Becky Bolinger (in the College of Engineering, Department of Atmospheric Science), with coauthors Russ Schumacher and Peter Goble (also in the College of Engineering, Department of Atmospheric Science). There is a PDF of this report, as well as a website, https://climatechange.colostate.edu, where the full text of the report, graphics, and links to data will reside. All data for the report is located in a git repository for open access. The report has undergone a full peer review, with comments and edits incorporated from 23 experts (acknowledged in the report). This is a state level report, with support from the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
3rd edition.

Rights Access

Subject

climate change
extremes
hazards
drought
snowpack
temperature
precipitation

Citation

Associated Publications

Climate change in Colorado report (video). https://archives.mountainscholar.org/digital/collection/p17393coll214/id/27

Collections