Mountain West News Bureau

The Mountain West News Bureau is a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, KUNR in Nevada, Nevada Public Radio, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana and Wyoming Public Media, with support from affiliate stations across the region.

Spring is getting warmer across the U.S., especially in the Mountain West, analysis finds

KUNR Public Radio | By Kaleb Roedel

Published March 24, 2025 at 12:22 PM PDT

This is an image taken from a mountain peak above Reno. The land is mostly brown with small patches of white snow. The sky is blue with white puffy clouds. — A look at significant snowmelt from spring warming on Peavine Peak above Reno, Nev., on April 14, 2021.

A new scientific analysis shows spring is getting warmer across the U.S. because of climate change. Some of the fastest-warming cities are in the Mountain West, threatening to shrink water supplies and increase wildfire risk.

Since 1970, the average spring temperatures in Reno, Nev., have risen by nearly 7 degrees – the most in the nation. Not far behind is Las Vegas, Nev., which has warmed 6 degrees during that span, according to a new analysis from Climate Central, a policy-neutral nonprofit.

Elsewhere in the Mountain West, several cities have warmed more than 3 degrees, including Albuquerque, N.M. (3.7 degrees); Boise, Idaho (3.4 degrees); Salt Lake City, Utah (3.4 degrees); and Colorado Springs, Colo. (3.1 degrees). Cheyenne, Wyo., has warmed 2 degrees.

Those numbers might not sound like big increases, but the trend is shriveling mountain snowpacks that supply water to farms and communities, said Kaitlyn Trudeau, a senior researcher at Climate Central.

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“It has a huge impact on our drinking water availability, right?” Trudeau said. “And it has a huge impact for people that depend on water for agriculture. It means we can lose more water earlier in the year; it means that we might not have enough water at the end of the summer.”

Trudeau said that can lead to severe drought conditions across the West, raising the risk of wildfires to grow longer and stronger.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.