Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science, Part 2

Western Water Assessment's Jeff Lukas and Liz Payton, along with Steph McAfee (University of Nevada, Reno), took a closer look at the observations of weather, climate, and hydrology that are fundamental to Colorado River water supply, water demand, and system condition forecasts and projections.

This second installment in the Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science report webinar series focused on Chapters 4 & 5, which cover weather observation networks, procedures for developing gridded climate datasets, snowpack observation techniques, streamflow naturalization methods, and models for estimating evapotranspiration and soil moisture. Jeff Lukas, Liz Payton, and Steph McAfee discussed these topics and offered key challenges and opportunities for improving the data, followed by Q&A.

The Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science report was conceived and commissioned by a group of federal, state, and local water agencies working to advance scientific understanding in the Colorado River Basin. By serving as a common knowledge base and identifying challenges and opportunities, the report is intended to support ongoing efforts to improve near-term forecasts and longer-term projections of water supply and system conditions, and also inform broader discussions about planning for the basin's water future.