An early-season heat wave that is hitting the Western United States is likely to cause record-breaking temperatures in large parts of the region. The heat wave could also further lower water availability in the area, which has seen terribly low levels of snowpack this year.
Although scientists have not yet fully analysed the link between climate change and these particular extreme weather conditions, there is increasing evidence that human-caused warming is worsening droughts and decreasing snowpack in the area. That development is having serious consequences for farming and daily access to dependable water supplies for both people and animals. In the historically dry region, snowpack provides up to 75 percent of freshwater supplies annually as it slowly melts into reservoirs throughout the spring and summer. According to Rong Fu, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, the heat wave may cause a limited snowpack to melt and evaporate more quickly, reducing water availability in the spring.
Though some years are wetter than others, scientists have documented an overall decline in rain and snowpack across the U.S. Southwest over the past 25 years— some have called this a “megadrought.” A 2025 study found that climate change, along with air pollution over East Asia, contributes to this trend by increasing the likelihood of weather conditions that contribute to drought.
