Each month from January through June, the B.C. Government releases snowpack data from 200+ monitoring stations across the province. According to the latest bulletin, it’s been a good winter for snow so far with almost all locations in the Kootenay-Columbia region above normal as of January 1.
The Upper Columbia was on average 23% above norm (with Kicking Horse at a whopping 177%!); the West Kootenay was 17% above norm; and the East Kootenay was 24% above norm. Only a few monitoring stations in the West Kootenay, and between Nelson and Creston, recorded below-average readings. Overall, the province-wide snowpack was slightly (7%) above normal.
For anyone looking out at bare valley bottoms right now, these numbers may feel hard to reconcile with the reality around them. After a fairly dry and warm January, the deep drifts of December have rapidly disappeared at lower elevations, hinting at a deeper issue with our snowpack data.
According to Nelson-based ecologist Greg Utzig, who has worked extensively on climate change, “this year is an excellent example of what the future looks like.”
Our rising snowline
Although the 45 monitoring stations used to generate the Kootenay-Columbia region’s portion of the B.C. water bulletin range from 559m to 2,060m above sea level, the vast majority are in the alpine. This makes sense because researchers are trying to assess the big picture snowpack, which does mostly occur up high. However, it risks masking the impacts of climate change by presenting an overly rosy picture of our water situation.
On average, Canada is warming at more than twice the global rate, and the Kootenay-Columbia region is no exception. Among many other impacts, this is raising our snowline. Areas below the snowline are more likely to receive rain and positive temperatures that melt accumulated snow during the winter, while high-elevation areas are still largely above the freeze/melt threshold and so can accumulate deep snowpacks in high-precipitation years.
High-elevation snow not necessarily good news for low elevations
If December’s high snowfall continues through the rest of the winter, it would be good news for our dying glaciers, and may slow their retreat a little this coming summer. It would also help recharge groundwater supplies, refill lakes and wetlands, and increase our capacity to generate hydroelectric power from dams. But it’s not all positive news, says Nelson-based hydrologist Dr. Martin Carver.
“It used to be considered a good thing when we had more snow up high. And I would say it still is; however, it’s more nuanced now, even a bit precarious… above-normal spring temperatures (sometimes sharply above normal) make the large snowpack a mixed blessing. It can more easily result in damaging spring floods, not to mention that [the snow] can disappear remarkably early due to high spring/summer temperatures,” he says.
In addition to the increased flood risk, the growing gap between high- and low-elevation snowpacks has consequences for wildlife and ecosystems.
As Columbia Valley locals have pointed out, Brisco elk herds haven’t been able to access their usual winter habitat because the wetlands and sloughs in the valley bottom melted out in mid January.
On social media, another Columbia Basin resident commented that low-elevation forests could be “crispy dry before the upper snowpack melts,” adding that most high-elevation snowmelt has been diverted into streams and rivers by the time it reaches lower elevations.
Entering “a new hydrologic regime”
Talking about this high/low snowpack dynamic with neighbours and collaborators across the Columbia Basin over the past few weeks has brought forth a chorus of voices pointing to an uncertain future, and the need for us to keep learning.
“It all highlights the new hydrologic territory that carbon emissions have brought about. It would be great to say we are in a transition but that would be misleading because it would imply we are headed to a stable destination,” says Carver. “I think it’s more accurate to say that we are now in a new hydrologic regime, one to which our ecosystems and human communities are poorly adapted.”
While this year’s snowpack is above normal so far, this doesn’t take away from the fact that our climate is warming. As it does so, the Columbia Basin region is likely to experience longer, hotter and drier summers, along with a myriad of other impacts that all point to the need for improved watershed management.
What can we do to be better prepared for the future?
1. Tell your MLA that the Province of B.C. needs to invest more in watershed security! An easy way to do this without costing tax payers a dime is to modernize B.C.’s industrial water rates, which currently charge industrial users $2.25 per million litres of water. The B.C. Watershed Security Coalition has an easy tool you can use.
2. Support efforts by Living Lakes Canada and others to fill gaps in watershed data collection. Contact cbwmf@livinglakescanada.ca to learn more about their work.
3. Advocate for climate solutions in your community and with your elected representatives. As long as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere keep rising, watershed security threats will only intensify.