NPR: Just ignore all these cold winters and keep worrying about warm winters

Thinning Snows In Rockies Tied To Global Warming : NPR

"Here in the western U.S., where we rely really heavily on snowmelt for summer water supply, anything that impacts the snowpack can also cause a drought," says Phil Mote, a climate scientist at Oregon State University. "And what this paper shows is the warming of the 20th century and beyond is already affecting and will profoundly affect the frequency of droughts in the West, simply by whittling away at the snowpack."

He finds the new report persuasive in its link to global warming.

"It's sort of ironic to be talking about this this year, when the Columbia River is at flood stage in Portland," Mote says.

But that underscores the fact that you can't judge the climate by a single year, or even a few decades.