VOLUME 60 | ISSUE 25
WEEK OF JANUARY 25, 2024
$2
PACKED HOUSE
Continued decline of streamflows projected New Westminster Council hears from residents P2 for Colorado BY HEATHER SACKETT ASPEN JOURNALISM
Scientists predict with high confidence that Colorado’s future spring runoff will come earlier; soil moisture will be lower; heat waves, droughts and wildfires will be more frequent and intense; and a thirstier atmosphere will continue to rob rivers of their flows — changes that are all driven by higher temperatures caused by humans burning fossil fuels. These findings are according to the third Climate Change in Colorado Assessment report, produced by scientists at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University. Commissioned by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the report’s findings have implications for the state’s water managers. Borrowing a phrase from climate scientist Brad Udall, climate change is water change — which has become a common maxim for those water managers. The report focuses on 2050 as a planning horizon and projects what conditions will be like at that time. According to the report, by 2050, the statewide annual temperatures are projected to warm by 2.5 to 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit compared with a late-20th-century baseline and 1 to 4 degrees compared with today. Colorado temperatures have already risen by 2.3 degrees since 1980. SEE STREAMFLOWS, P6
BRIEFS: PAGE 12 | VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19 NORTHGLENN-THORNTONSENTINEL.COM • A PUBLICATION OF COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
LOCAL NOTES Community orchestras aim to make better communities P16