Today, a report (The West's Changed Climate) (pdf file) by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) concluded that climate change is now happening in the western US.  

The report is based on a comparison of the past 5 years (2003-2007) and found that the American West is heating up now:

1.  The West is now heating up at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world:  While the global climate has "averaged 1.0 degree Fahrenheit warmer than its 20th century average," there are 11 western states which "averaged 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the region's 20th century average—which represents 70 percent more warming than for the world as a whole."  Some may criticize that 5 years is not a sufficient period to determine a trend for climate change, but the report is based upon 50 scientific studies, 125 government and scientific sources and their own analysis.  

2.  The West has experienced "more frequent and severe heat waves, with the number of extremely hot days increasing by up to four days per decade since 1950."

3.  The West is already drier.  70% of our water is provided by snow rather than rain.  There is already evidence of decreased snowpack, less snowfall, and earlier snow melt.

Last February, scientists confirmed --- based upon data from 50 years (1950-1999) --- that the dramatic decline in snowpack in our western mountains is "caused primarily by human-induced global warming and is not the result of natural variability in weather patterns."  For decades, scientists have been aware that western hydrology was changing, and people often claimed it was almost a temporary "fit" of Mother Nature that would self correct. Now, these scientists have "found very clearly that global warming has done it, that it is the mechanism that explains the change and that things will be getting worse."

4.  As time goes on, the intensity and duration of droughts will increase.  In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has already characterized the drought which has existed in the western US since 1999 as a "notable extreme climate event."

5.  The Colorado River Basin is a major source of water for several western states, and it is drying up.

6.  The IPCC found that recent warming temperatures "are responsible for increases in wildfire in the West, including increases in the length of the fire season, number of fires, time needed to put out the average wildfire, and area being burned."  

7.  Climate change is also increasing the melting of glaciers in the West:

U.S. Geological Survey researchers projected in 2003 that all glaciers in Glacier National Park could be completely melted by 2030, but they actually are melting so fast they are likely to be gone by 2022. In Washington’s North Cascades Mountains, 47 glaciers monitored since 1984 have lost, on average, 20 to 40 percent of their volume, with five having melted entirely away.

We need policy changes NOW. Not just passing some legislation so that Congress can claim that they are addressing climate change, but passing effective legislation that is not molded to fit the needs of corporate polluters.