Events

Wildfires pose significant challenges to water treatment plants and freshwater systems by increasing sediment, nutrient, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) loads in streamflow, as well as exacerbating flooding through elevated runoff rates. This presentation by WWA Director Ben Livneh highlights findings from a multi-scale analysis that examines the effects of wildfires on sediment, nutrients, DOM, and runoff across multiple watersheds. We utilized laboratory-scale wildfire and rainfall simulations to explore small-scale processes influencing soil and water changes.

This webinar covers findings from Emily Peters' thesis research that she conducted as an Environment, Natural Resources & Society (ENRS) graduate student at the University of Wyoming. This study examined participant perceptions of climate-related hazard impacts through twenty qualitative interviews in four Wyoming Counties with formal rural and disadvantaged designations to increase our understanding and approach to addressing climate risk in the state.

After a record to near-record water year in 2023, how would the 2024 water year compare? Would 2024 mark a return to wetter conditions or a slide back into drought that has plagued the region for decades? In this webinar, WWA Research Scientist Seth Arens summarizes weather conditions from fall and winter and provides insight into how the remainder of the water year may unfold. El Niño conditions prevailed throughout winter 2024 and temperature and snowpack conditions were generally consistent with expectations for a year with strong El Niño conditions.

For large populations across the western U.S., water supply prediction relies centrally on knowledge of spring snow conditions, where snowpack can provide critical early warning of anomalous water supplies. As drought conditions emerge or future temperatures rise, snowpack is likely to decline, causing the relationship between snow and streamflow to shift. Recent research found that in the future, snowpack will be less predictive of drought in snowmelt-dominated systems in the western U.S.

Adapting to Climate Change in Wyoming: Small Grants Competition

The University of Wyoming and Western Water Assessment (WWA) are pleased to announce the Adapting to Climate Change in Wyoming grant competition.

The landscape of climate change information is like a rainforest: rich and diverse, but hard to navigate. A User Guide to Climate Change Portals is a new online resource designed to help people and communities acquire and interpret climate change information that is appropriate for their locality in the Mountain West and beyond. Jeff Lukas of Lukas Climate Research and Consulting and Julie Vano of the Aspen Global Change Institute walk through the User Guide and the six types of curated information resources that are highlighted in the guide.

Across the US, floods, droughts, and other water-related hazards are being amplified by climate change, but the impacts are not falling equally across regions and populations. Learn about the consequences of an intensified water cycle in the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) draft, which is now posted for public review and comment. WWA, as part of its webinar series, hosted this webinar on January 12, 2023, about the draft Water Chapter of the NCA5.

WWA-supported graduate students Natalie Bennett and Carli Brucker discuss local fire risk reduction planning and water quality planning in the face of wildfire risk.

Western Water Assessment's Seth Arens and Katie Clifford, along with WWA graduate student Nels Bjarke (Engineering), shared how a changing climate is impacting the frequency and severity of extreme heat events. This webinar provided an overview and synthesis of the science on extreme heat in our region and new WWA research improving our estimates of the likelihood of extreme heat events.

WWA partnered with the Colorado Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) to offer a workshop on Climate Change and Flooding in Colorado. This workshop was an opportunity for planners to gain free continuing education credit needed to maintain their certification, learn about how climate change may impact flooding in the state, and share perspectives and experiences amongst each other. WWA’s Liz Payton synthesized the state of the science on changes to extreme precipitation and applied that to flooding.