As a longtime summer researcher at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in the Gothic area outside Crested Butte in Gunnison County, David Inouye has watched the high-elevation study sites there change due to a warming climate. Now also living between Paonia and Hotchkiss after retiring from the University of Maryland, Inouye was struck by a Washington Post report showing Delta County and other areas of western Colorado have warmed even faster than Gunnison County since the late 1800s. In fact, the temperature increases are some of the biggest in the country. Last week’s story by the Washington Post and accompanying county-by-county data it compiled showing temperature trends since 1895 focused on the fact that climate change has been uneven across the United States, with some regions warming faster than others. The report included a national map, and among the notable red spots indicating particularly high rates of warming is western Colorado and eastern Utah. To view the full article visit the Grand Junction Sentinel.
