Scientists Define a New Category of Heat Wave: “Snow Eaters”

Scientists have identified a new category of heat wave that's rapidly eroding Western mountain snowpack. Per Eos, researchers define "snow eaters" as heat waves where temperatures stay above freezing around the clock for three to five days—roughly doubling the rate at which snow melts. A study published in Science Advances found that since the eighteen-fifties, the area affected by these events has grown by about forty thousand square miles per century, with the first snow eater arriving roughly a month earlier per century. These rapid-melt events strain water supplies, fuel severe wildfires, and threaten mountain communities with increased avalanche risk.

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