To help a wide audience understand those changes, sections like winter precipitation begin with the broad statement, “most of Alaska is seeing more mid-winter snow.” Typically, such statements are followed up with a very simple explanation like, “This increase is driven by warmer temperatures that enable air to hold more water vapor.”
Thoman said he worked in tandem with ACCAP’s Science Communications Lead Heather McFarland to break things down to the simplest terms.
“Heather will go through and say, ‘That’s jargon, I don’t understand this.’ Oh, that’s good,” Thoman explained. “Heather will do that with text from other experts as well, to get that into the style that you see there.”