BBC Finish of Snow: “How local weather change threatens to shut ski resorts”

Essay by Eric Worrall

Do they ever tire of being wrong?

How climate change threatens to close down ski resorts

By Isabelle Gerretsen January 25, 2023

From the Swiss Alps to the Rocky Mountains, ski resorts are struggling with the effects of climate change. How are they adapting to a warming world?

The Alps experienced record temperatures over Christmas and New Year, reaching 20.9 °C (70 °F) in northwestern Switzerland.

“It was exceptionally warm over Christmas and New Year,” says Stephanie Dijkman, Anzère Tourism Director. “Almost all the snow in the village was gone. I was quite worried.” People couldn’t ski down to the village, she adds.

Luckily it started snowing again in early JanuaryJust in time for the arrival of the “real ski fans” who book their trips outside of the holiday season and hope for “very good conditions”, she says.

As temperatures rise, the atmosphere holds more water vapor, leading to more precipitation, says Marie Cavitte, a glaciologist and climate researcher at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. “[When] temperatures rise, [water vapour] falls as rain instead of snow,She adds, “This happens at low-altitude ski stations that are below 5,250 feet (1,600 m). That’s where we see a lot more rain-on-snow events that amplify the melting of existing snow.”

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230124-how-climate-change-threatens-to-close-ski-resorts

In 2021, the BBC told us that global warming was making winters colder;

Climate change: Arctic warming associated with colder winters

Released September 2, 2021
By Matt McGrath
environmental correspondent

A new study shows that increases in extreme winter weather in parts of the US are linked to accelerated warming in the Arctic.

Scientists found that warming in the region ultimately disrupted the circular pattern of winds known as polar vortex.

This has allowed colder winter weather to pour into the US, particularly during the February cold spell in Texas.

The authors say warming will lead to more cold winters in some places.

Over the past four decades, satellite records have shown how rising global temperatures have profoundly affected the Arctic.

“We argue that melting sea ice in northwestern Eurasia, combined with increased snowfall in Siberia, is leading to an amplification of the west-to-east temperature differential across the Eurasian continent,” explained lead author Dr. Judah Cohen, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and director of Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a weather risk management company.

“We know that if this temperature difference increases, it will lead to more disturbances in the polar vortex. And when it’s weakened, that leading to more extreme winter weather like the cold snap in Texas last February.”

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58425526

Reading the BBC, does it appear that climate change is causing some winters to be warm and rainy, some winters to be cold and snowy, and some winters to have warm and cold spells?

Don’t forget folks, the science is done.

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