Has Pacific Northwest snowpack declined? Yes.

So has Pacific Northwest snowpack declined? Emphatically yes. I say "emphatically yes" for three reasons. First, because Albright illustrates the supposed lack of a trend by comparing specific periods (e.g. 1940-1946 vs. 1997-2006), in which snowpack has increased in some locations. This is not very informative, because both the spatial and temporal variability is large, and any question of decline can only be correctly addressed using all the data together, and over a statistically significant time period (30 years or more would be preferred). According to a summary statement prepared by Dennis Hartman to try to clarify the situation for the media and government, the decline is quite evident when the analysis is done correctly. (Hartmann is currently Chair of the Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Washington).