Combustion of fossil fuels for electricity is one of the single largest sources of the greenhouse gas pollution that is driving increasingly evident changes to our climate. Statewide, Colorado has warmed roughly 1 and 2 degrees (F) over the past century, causing damaging impacts both environmentally and economically, from more severe heat waves and altered snow melting patterns to worsening drought conditions and the loss of millions of acres of forest and increasingly damaging wildfires. Following are some of the most evident impacts of climate change on Colorado.

Snowpack and Water

Changes in temperature and precipitation are altering Colorado’s snowpack. According to the EPA, across most of the West, snowpack has decreased since the 1950s due to earlier melting and less precipitation falling as snow. Colorado relies almost exclusively on water that comes from mountain snowpack, which melts in spring and summer, filling the rivers and reservoirs that quench thirsty cities and feed agriculture. In Colorado, the amount of snow measured in April has declined 20-60% at most monitoring sites.

During the warmer months, higher temperatures increase evaporation, drying out land and soils. According to EPA, in the decades to come, rainfall during summer is more likely to decrease than increase in Colorado, and periods without rain are likely to be longer. All of these combines to increase the risk of droughts becoming more severe in the future.

Wildfires

Higher temperatures and drought are already increasing the size, severity and frequency of wildfires in Colorado. And as the end of 2021 demonstrated so tragically in Boulder County, those risks are no longer confined just to mountain forests and communities. Climate change is creating conditions for wildfire to spread into suburban environments with devastating consequences. In addition to the direct damages, smoke from fires both in Colorado and across the West pose additional health risks. Poor air quality resulting from lingering fires increase medical visits, especially for respiratory problems.

Forests and Beetle Kill

The damaging impacts of climate change are patently evident to anyone driving across Western Colorado. Warmer, drier conditions make forests more susceptible to pests such as pine beetles and millions of acres of trees have been killed as warming temperatures make it easier for harmful insects to survive through the winter and proliferate. A mountain pine beetle outbreak in 2006 covered nearly half of Colorado’s forests and killed nearly 5 million lodgepole pines.

Human Health

Extreme temperatures and heat events can have direct human impacts, too, leading to increased incidence of heat stroke and dehydration. Rising temperatures also increase the formation of ground-level ozone, a key component of harmful smog that aggravates lung diseases such as asthma, and increases the risk of premature death from heart or lung disease. As the climate changes, continued progress toward clean air will be more difficult.