Ongoing warming intensifies snowpack extremes, posing significant hydroclimatic risks to socio-ecological systems. However, the relation between snowpack extremes and subsequent compound hydroclimatic extremes remains unclear. Here, we investigated the impact of snowpack extremes on warm-season compound hydroclimatic extremes in the Northern Hemisphere using multisource datasets from 1980 to 2022. We found widespread increases in deficient, short, and deficient-short snowpack extremes, triggering more compound hot-dry extremes within a month after snowpack disappearance (mean coincidence rate over 0.6, p < 0.05). 

Other snowpack and runoff article:

• KSL NewsRadio (Salt Lake City, Utah): How could Utah’s dry soil impact our spring runoff?