We’ve all seen it. That white fluffy blanket of snow that looked so nice after it fell a couple weeks back is no longer white and fluffy. It has been capped with a layer of dark sooty particulate matter, turning it from white to gray to black.
Which is no good whether you’re trying to ski on it, make Frosty the Snowman, or throw it at your friends. It’s just downright frustrating.
And no, this is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. A new study shows that pollution from automobiles and coal-fired power plants is contributing to the melting of mountain snowpacks up to a month early, exacerbating water shortages and polluting streams in the arid West.
So aside from just being an aesthetically unpleasing feature of landscapes in winter, there are far more serious consequences in store for the Rockies, the Sierra Nevadas, and the Cascades.
The study, conducted by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, found that particulate emissions from automobile tailpipes and industry smokestacks settles on snow-covered mountains and covers them with a dark layer that absorbs more sunlight and melts the snow faster.
So, not only will there be less water in the summer months, the water that will be available will have higher concentrations of dirt, ash and soot from as far away as China.
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