How Dust On Colorado’s Snow Could Ruin Your Salad

The Story Goes like this

GOLDEN, COLORADO — The deep snow cover in Colorado’s mountains, well above average this year everywhere except the southern part of the state, is melting and running off very quickly in June. It’s an annual event that is watched closely by farmers who depend on irrigation water, water managers eager to see their reservoirs filled, kayakers and rafters looking for white water thrills, and increasingly by scientists looking at how the West is doing in a warming world.

For about the last decade, a small group of researchers has been studying a particular aspect of the annual snowmelt in the Colorado Rockies: how it is affected by dust that blows in from Arizona, southern Utah, and other points in the desert Southwest and settles in layers on the mountain snow. In part, their research is driven by the huge importance of the mighty Colorado River, which begins high in the Rockies and ends its long journey in Mexico.

Along the way, the Colorado provides water for some 40 million people, and more than five million acres of cropland in some of the richest agricultural regions in the U.S.

So to break it down the drought in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada is causing dust to settle here in Colorado. Settle on top of our snow pack.

Why that's a bad thing is--- the darker dust makes the snow melt faster.
Normally snow melts slowly in the high country, thus creating a constant steady downstream flow of fresh water.

But the dust on the snow had the result where we had localized flooding here, our rivers running at record high levels! Flooding!

Now at first you would think that a good thing right?
More water for the farmers down stream to grow their crops.

but the problem is they can only store so much water. Water which is constantly running down hill until it reaches the sea.
More water now, but to soon for the peak growing season later in the summer.
and since the snow is melting too fast--- there will not be more coming letter in the season when the farmers need it most.

In other words it's become a self sustaining vicious cycle.

CODOS
is the research center that watches for dust levels and I gave you a link to there website.
It is interesting to read through their reports--- also a bit disturbing when you pause to think about the ramifications of this early snowmelt.

a reply to: HardCorps

Like most other Americans I don't eat salad. But I will hold a moment of silence for those who do.

a reply to: jjkenobi

It's not just the lettuce crop that will suffer...
Feed and fodder for cattle will again be at a premium. Corn used to make ethanol for use in cars will cost more.
this even affects the barley production.

you did know that barley is what they use to make beer right?

Looking for the cause of this. This is a natural cycle. When the drought hits an area, it makes more dust which melts more snow and causes more snow to melt. Same with the dust from forest fires, it also does the same thing, which helps to regulate the earth's water. So both the increasing fires and the drought are adding to this.

We interfere with nature to a great extent, not just a little. We deforest big areas, grow big fields, and irigate these fields, so they grow things. So we are interfering with the natural slow melting and causing fast melts. It is a natural event though, I am sure fires have caused massive melting in the past, nothing to do with mankind. But, we may actually be causing this this time.

Now, how can we correct this if we are causing it? I haven't a clue, but maybe some foresters can figure it out. Forget about the overeducated idiots who get everything they know from a book, we need the old forest rangers and farmers to get together and hash this out. The cure is in experience, not necessarily in things that were written in books. Observations made over generations by people is needed.

originally posted by: HardCorps
a reply to: jjkenobi

It's not just the lettuce crop that will suffer...

I think I know where this is going and I dont like it....

Feed and fodder for cattle will again be at a premium. Corn used to make ethanol for use in cars will cost more.
this even affects the barley production.

you did know that barley is what they use to make beer right?

You did know that corn is used to make ...


This is quite possibly the most important thread on ATS today....

a reply to: youdidntseeme

Lets not forget Cotton used to make clothes...

Think of it man---
we could be facing a skimpy bikini shortage the likes of which we've never seen before!!!!!

And with that said I'm outies-- to go spend the day with the wife and kids...

be well and stay safe ya all...

No big deal. Just paint the snow white.
America just cant catch a break lately.

a reply to: HardCorps

Speaking of dust:

Global distillation or the grasshopper effect is the geochemical process by which certain chemicals, most notably persistent organic pollutants (POPs), are transported from warmer to colder regions of the Earth, particularly the Poles and mountain tops. Global distillation explains why relatively high concentrations of POPs have been found in the Arctic environment and in the bodies of animals and people who live there, even though most of the chemicals have not been used in the region in appreciable amounts.[1] ....