Nobel-winning professor tells Montanans climate change is real, and close to home

University of Montana professor Steven Running, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore, told students and faculty Thursday at Rocky Mountain College in Billings that climate change is real and can be seen in places such as Montana, Mary Pickett reports for the Billings Gazette. (Gazette photo by Bob Zellar)

All the glaciers in Glacier National Park could be gone by 2020 if current trends continue, Running said. "In the Northwest, snowpacks are melting two weeks earlier than they did 50 years ago, and runoff happens earlier in the summer," Pickett writes, reporting on Running's speech. "Warmer temperatures also are causing moisture to evaporate more quickly, leaving less water for everything from agriculture to recreation. Since 1950, late summer stream flows in major rivers in Montana have declined by 20 percent. Some streams have so little water at the end of the summer that Fish Wildlife and Parks has to shut down fishing." If current trends continue, Running said Montana could end up with a climate like Utah's. (Read more)