It's not easy to move between threads here...
The Commonwealth Club: Climate One
Thu, Dec 12, 2013 -- 8:00 PM
Audio currently not available for this program.
Mountain Meltdown -- Winter is coming. But is the season what it used to be? Tourism is one of the largest economic sectors worldwide, and one of the least prepared for climate change. The last decade was the warmest on record, and the U.S. winter tourism industry experienced an estimated $1 billion loss and up to 27,000 fewer jobs because of diminished snowfall. Without action to reduce emissions, analysts predict many ski centers will eventually be forced to close, especially those at lower altitudes. The remaining mountains will become more dependent on snowmaking, which will lead to higher energy use and potentially higher ticket prices. How can winter tourism sustainably adapt to climate change? What are industry executives, skiers and snowboarders doing to mitigate effects and prepare for long-term challenges? The program presents a two-part conversation with climate experts, a professional snowboarder and industry leaders from the Mountain Collective, which includes some of North America's most popular ski resorts.
Do you dispute that? (Note the qualifiers before answering. ;-)
A story from 2012 - http://switchboard.n...s_and_no_fun.html
Currently, only 16% of the country is covered in snow, a mere third of the normal snow coverage throughout the country according to the National Weather Service. This national trend has caused snow and ski resorts all over the country to feel the negative effects on everything from their profits to their jobs. A recent Bloomberg article discusses specific hits that Vail Resorts, Inc. has taken since the beginning of the winter season. Shares there have fallen 15% since December 23rd and the lack of snow has not even allowed them to open their back bowls for the first time in 30 years.
In Boone, North Carolina, a smaller town nestled in the high country of the Appalachian Mountains and home to Appalachian State University (ASU), residents are also feeling the pain of the snowless winter. ASU Professor Kristian Jackson, an avid back country skier, has yet to make one trip into the high country at this point in the season due to the lack of snow.
Etc.
We both know that weather isn't climate, but people aren't making up these reports of lack of snow in many resorts.
An interesting site showing northern hemisphere snowfall anomalies is here - http://climate.rutge..._month=1&ui_set=2 It doesn't seem to have data near the pole (unsurprisingly). Moving between years, it's obvious that there are temporal and regional variations so looking at a particular ski resort on a short time scale isn't terribly meaningful either way.
The long-term average trend (not shown here) is clear enough though...
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
