Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42475557›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

The 2026 western US snow drought was about four times more likely due to climate change.

Adrienne M Marshall, Marianne Cowherd, Stefan Rahimi, Yuhong Ye

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. The 2026 western US snow drought was about four times more likely due to climate change.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Adrienne M MarshallHydrologic Science and Egineering Program, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401.ORCID 0000-0001-5555-2548
Marianne CowherdDepartment of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717.
Stefan RahimiDepartment of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071.ORCID 0000-0003-3188-4462
Yuhong YeDepartment of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071.

Funding

DOC | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) NA230AR4310633NSF (NSF) 2149105
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In the spring of 2026, anomalously low snow conditions in the western United States threatened winter recreation and water supplies. Here, we investigate: to what extent was this snow drought attributable to the climate change that has occurred since the pre-industrial period? We find that a snow drought this severe across the western United States was approximately 4.4 [95% CI: 2.6, 9.4] times more likely in the current climate than in the preindustrial period. In the Upper Colorado River Basin, the snow drought was approximately 14 times more likely [0.09, 4,300]. Given a projected increase in the frequency of snow droughts at least this severe in a moderately high emissions warming scenario, the lived experience of this event may help scientists, resource managers, and the public consider what western US snow might look like if greenhouse gas emissions are not aggressively reduced.

Indexed as

climate changeextreme event attributionsnow droughtwater resourceswestern US

Identifiers

PMID42475557
PMCPMC13416093

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.