Rocky Mountains to warm more than lower elevations, according to new paper

The Rocky Mountains can expect more warming in the future than lower-elevation regions at the same latitude during the cold season, according to a new analysis of the latest (CMIP5) global climate model runs. WWA’s Imtiaz Rangwala and two colleagues from Rutgers University analyzed the model output for temperature changes as function of surface elevation in the northern mid-latitudes for a paper published in June in Environmental Research Letters. The study, which built upon Rangwala’s investigations when he was a PACE postdoc co-sponsored by WWA, found that these enhanced future warming projections are in part due to a proportionately stronger water vapor feedback at high elevations, and also to reduced snow cover that facilitates greater heating of the land surface.