Missoula panel: scientists report shrinking snowpack, activists and city leaders outline local and national responses

Dr. Steve Running, an internationally recognized climatologist and professor of ecology, told a Missoula audience that regional temperature and snowfall records point to substantial change and local impacts. "By 2080 it won't snow in Missoula at all," Running said, summarizing an extrapolation of 50-year trends showing large March warming and falling snowfall.

The panel combined four perspectives: Running presented regional climate data; David Murrow, executive director of globalwarmingsolution.org, urged an aggressive, federally led emissions-reduction program; Melissa Parrott of Homeward described local sustainable building and resident-level strategies; and Mayor John Engen described incremental municipal policies and civic outreach.

Why this matters: Running said a roughly 5°F rise in March temperatures across five Montana cities and a steep decline in snowfall in Missoula are already changing the seasonal water balance, pushing spring snowmelt earlier, lowering summer streamflows and contributing to longer, more intense wildfire seasons. Those changes affect water supply, fisheries and recreation, and complicate municipal planning and emergency response.

Running said his team reviewed…