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Vol. 61, Issue 101
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THIRTY YEARS ON
Rockies snow pack drops 20 per cent U.S. study finds a dramatic drop in snow cover, affecting water supplies, energy production, and flood and wildfire risk S A LLY MAC D ON AL D Townsman Staff
The Rocky Mountains have lost 20 per cent of their snow cover since the 1980s, according to a U.S. geological study. The study by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey found “unusually severe declines in snow pack in the northern Rocky Mountains” since the 1980s. Earlier research had found that before the 1980s, snow pack was low in the southern Rockies when it was high in the northern Rockies, and vice versa. This new study found that the decline now applies to the entire length of the mountain range. “Each year we looked at temperature and precipitation variations and the amount of water contained within the snow pack as of April,” said scientist Greg Pederson, the lead author of the study. “Snow deficits were consistent throughout the Rockies due to the lack of precipitation during the
cool seasons during the 1930s — coinciding with the Dust Bowl era. From 1980 on, warmer spring temperatures melted snow pack throughout the Rockies early, regardless of winter precipitation. The model in turn shows temperature as the major driving factor in snow pack declines over the past 30 years.” To conduct the study, geological scientists measured the amount of snow against monthly temperature and precipitation data, going all the way back to 1895 and running the figures all the way to 2011. That gave the scientists a look at how winter temperature, spring temperature and precipitation has affected the snow pack. Geologists found that regional snow pack accumulation is very sensitive to changes in those two factors — temperature and precipitation — over time.
See SNOW , Page 3
KAITY BROWN PHOTO
Keltie-Jean Munro of Cranbrook proved to be the top adult fundraiser at Saturday’s Relay For Life fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society, Saturday, May 25, at the College of the Rockies track. Keltie-Jean, who had not cut her hair for eight years, had her head shaved and raised $4,100 in the process, part of the $77,000 raised through the weekend’s event.
Man pleads guilty over New Year’s crash Roland Capilo was charged over an accident that resulted in the death of his niece
SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
A man charged in connection with the New Year’s Eve 2012 death of 20-year-old Brittany Capilo has pleaded guilty in Cranbrook provincial court. Roland Capilo, Brittany’s
uncle, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and failure to stop at an accident causing bodily harm on Monday, May 27. The court heard that the accident occurred on LD Ranch Road on the ?aq’am (St.
Mary’s Band) reserve at around 5 a.m. on January 1, 2012. There were five people in a Dodge van driven by Roland Capilo, and they had been driving back from the hoodoos on the reserve after celebrating
the new year. Occupants of the vehicle reported that Capilo had been drinking, and was driving at around 100 kilometres an hour.
See CAPILO, Page 3
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