St. Mary's Glacier among those in Colorado disappearing during drought, tell me about this news in (https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/st-marys-glacier-colorado-disappearing-drought/)

The CBS Colorado report highlights how Colorado’s exceptionally hot and dry summer has caused St. Mary’s Glaciera popular year-round snowfield destinationto essentially vanish.

Key details covered in the report include:

• Disappearance of the Snowfield: St. Mary’s Glacier typically holds a persistent patch of snow throughout the entire year, but due to severe drought and elevated temperatures, hikers visiting the site found that the ice and snow had completely dried up.

• Expert Insights: Thomas Bellinger, an Earth and Atmospheric Sciences professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, explained that low snowfall combined with high temperatures led directly to this drying. He noted that warming temperatures are heating the internal snowpack, accelerating erosion across all of Colorado’s ice fields and glaciers.

• Long-term Threat: Experts warn that Colorado could lose all of its named glaciers by 2080 if current climate trends continue, threatening regional water supplies, ecosystems, and recreation. While consecutive wet winters and cooler seasons could theoretically allow the snowfield to recover, scientists emphasize that doing so would take a very long time.