Climatologist: Over the coming century, winter temperatures are likely

Question

Climatologist: Over the coming century, winter temperatures are likely to increase in the Rocky Mountains due to global warming. This will cause a greater proportion of precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow. Therefore, the mountain snowpack will probably melt more rapidly and earlier in the season, leading to greater spring flooding and less storable water to meet summer demands.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the climatologist's argument?

(A) Global warming will probably cause a substantial increase in the average amount of annual precipitation in the Rocky Mountains over the coming century.

(B) In other mountainous regions after relatively mild winters, the melting of snowpacks has led to greater spring flooding and less storable water, on average, than in those mountainous regions after colder winters.

(C) On average, in areas of the Rocky Mountains in which winters are relatively mild, there is less storable water to meet summer demands than there is in areas of the Rocky Mountains that experience colder winters.

(D) On average, in the regions of the world with the mildest winters, there is more spring flooding and less storable water than in regions of the world with much colder winters.

(E) The larger a mountain snowpack is, the greater the amount of spring flooding it is likely to be responsible for producing.

Source: LSAT

aghosh54 · Answer

Climatologist: Over the coming century, winter temperatures are likely to increase in the Rocky Mountains due to global warming. This will cause a greater proportion of precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow. Therefore, the mountain snowpack will probably melt more rapidly and earlier in the season, leading to greater spring flooding and less storable water to meet summer demands.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the climatologist's argument?

(A) Global warming will probably cause a substantial increase in the average amount of annual precipitation in the Rocky Mountains over the coming century. Talks about coming century... Irrelevant.

(B) In other mountainous regions after relatively mild winters, the melting of snowpacks has led to greater spring flooding and less storable water, on average, than in those mountainous regions after colder winters. Doesn't talk about Rocky mountains.. Irrelevant 
(C) On average, in areas of the Rocky Mountains in which winters are relatively mild, there is less storable water to meet summer demands than there is in areas of the Rocky Mountains that experience colder winters. Talks about what generally happens and in line with the conclusion. Correct 
(D) On average, in the regions of the world with the mildest winters, there is more spring flooding and less storable water than in regions of the world with much colder winters.Talks about regions in general. Not strengthening the conclusion. 
(E) The larger a mountain snowpack is, the greater the amount of spring flooding it is likely to be responsible for producing.
Out of scope

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GyMrAT · Answer

Question Type: Strengthen

Premise: Temperature increase during winters in the Rocky Mountains due to global warming, will lead to more rain than snow in winters.

Conclusion: The mountain snowpack will probably melt more rapidly and earlier in the season, leading to greater spring flooding and less storable water to meet summer demands.

Analysis: A strengthener should provide additional information to validated the conclusion. Since the snowpack is probably going to melt sooner leading to flooding, a correct answer should either provide some historical data of a similar situation in the same area or in a different location with similar geography & weather. The cause & effect relation should be strengthened.

(A) Global warming will probably cause a substantial increase in the average amount of annual precipitation in the Rocky Mountains over the coming century. - Restating the fact in argument. Incorrect
(B) In other mountainous regions after relatively mild winters, the melting of snowpacks has led to greater spring flooding and less storable water, on average, than in those mountainous regions after colder winters. -  Correct. Similar situation & geography, with similar cause & effect relation. 
(C) On average, in areas of the Rocky Mountains in which winters are relatively mild, there is less storable water to meet summer demands than there is in areas of the Rocky Mountains that experience colder winters. - Weakens the argument. Incorrect.
(D) On average, in the regions of the world with the mildest winters, there is more spring flooding and less storable water than in regions of the world with much colder winters. - Not specific which regions, it could be Tropical forests, with mild winters, more flooding & less storable waters. However doesn't not help in strengthening the argument. Incorrect
(E) The larger a mountain snowpack is, the greater the amount of spring flooding it is likely to be responsible for producing. - Irrelevant. Incorrect

Answer B.

Thanks,
GyM

Masterscorp · Answer

The contenders are B,C and D and their differences are small, but relevant: This gives us information about spring flooding and the amount of storable waters in other mountainous regions. These two factors (spring flooding and amount of storable water) are also mentioned in the initial statement, so this definitely is a good contender. Let's keep this. This statement only talks about the amount of storable water in the Rocky Mountains. However, it lacks any information about the spring flooding. Because of this, it is a inferior answer to B despite talking about the Rocky Mountains, an information that makes it more specific. This answer also talks about both factors mentioned before. This looks good as well, so we will have to compare B and D to find the correct answer. If you compare D to B, you will see that the noticable difference is "mountains" in B vs. "regions" in D. The initial statement talks about the Rocky Mountains, so the information about mountains is more precise than the one about regions imo. Hence, B is preferable over D. Hope that helps

GMATGuruNY · Answer

Premise: Over the coming century, winter temperatures are likely to increase in the Rocky Mountains.
Conclusion: The mountain snowpack will probably melt, leading to greater spring flooding and less storable water.

B:  In other mountainous regions after relatively mild winters, the melting of snowpacks has led to greater spring flooding and less storable water, on average, than in those mountainous regions after colder winters. 
Here, other locations with the SAME PREMISES -- mountainous terrain, temperatures changing from colder to warmer -- have experienced the SAME OUTCOME as that predicted in the argument: the mountain snowpacks have melted, leading to greater spring flooding and less storable water.
Thus, the prediction in the argument is STRENGTHENED.

B

C:  On average, in areas of the Rocky Mountains in which winters are relatively mild, there is less storable water to meet summer demands than there is in areas of the Rocky Mountains that experience colder winters. 
The argument links an INCREASE in winter temperatures to an unfortunate outcome: the mountain snowpack will melt, leading to greater spring flooding and less storable water.
C discusses portions of the Rockies that are ALWAYS warm -- an entirely different situation.
A region that changes from cold to warm is likely to yield melting snowpacks, as discussed in the argument.
A region that is always warm might have no snowpacks at all.
Since the two cases are not necessarily analogous, eliminate C.

D:  On average, in the regions of the world with the mildest winters, there is more spring flooding and less storable water than in regions of the world with much colder winters. 
Same issue as in C:
Whereas the argument is about the Rockies CHANGING from cold to warm, D discusses regions that are ALWAYS warm.
Moreover, the mild areas in D are not described as mountainous and thus might not be relevant to the Rocky Mountains.
Eliminate D.

jackspire · Answer

I missed the spring flooding parameter and ignored this option.

I went for C and later found that it was wrong.
My mistake. I considered the wrong parameter(Storable water instead of spring floods).

lilygranger · Answer

why is b the correct answer not c?
isnt c more specific?

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

The argument is that increasing temperatures will increase rain fall, which will melt snow sooner, which will increase flooding and decrease water-storage.

Note first that this is an LSAT question. There is much overlap, but sometimes the LSAT does a few things that are very rare to see on the GMAT. Here is such an example. There are two parts of the conclusion to strengthen--the increased flooding, and the decrease in water storage. C only touches the water storage. For LSAT purposes, I'd discredit it immediately because of this.

Note second that C mentions regions of the Rocky Mountain in which winters (in general) are mild. These places have trouble storing enough water for demand. But is that because of early snowpack melt and flooding? Or is it just because these places don't get much snow at all? The link is tenuous.

B specifies early snowpack melt in relatively mild winters (meaning winters milder than usual in that location--not a location whose winters are milder than most other locations) results in more flooding and less water storage. The link is much more direct.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Climatologist: Over the coming century, winter temperatures are likely

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