Climate Change Threatens Ski Season

J. Coyne

            The 2018 Winter Olympics have just ended and athletes sled, ski, and skate in their bid for gold medals. But around the world, more and more ski slopes and mountains are experiencing a lack of snowy days to ski on. A study by the Climate Impact Lab looks at how some of the most popular slopes could be snow-starved by the end of the century.

            To get their data, researchers Kelly McCusker and Hannah Hess looked at two different climate scenarios: one with a high level of global greenhouse gas emissions, and one with a moderate level of these emissions. Both scales corresponded to goals set in the Paris Climate Accords, a set of agreements agreed to by nearly all countries.

            These greenhouse gases, such as CO2 and methane, are chemicals that are better at storing heat compared to the O2 and N2 gases naturally present in the atmosphere. Because of this, heat that comes down to Earth from the sun cannot be completely reflected, as some of it is being stored by these gases. Normally these gases are trapped in the Earth for millions of years, but fossil fuels dredge them up and put them into the atmosphere long before they would naturally be there. This results in a lack of equilibrium that leads to a warming trend, which becomes worse when more greenhouse gases are added to the atmosphere.

            Looking at the data, McCusker and Hess find that all the slopes surveyed can expect, under the high emissions scenario, at least 25% less days below freezing by the end of the century, with many experiencing around 50% less days below freezing. Truckee, California in specific can expect between 75% and 84% less cold days, going from the 1980-2010 average of 41 days below freezing, to just 8 by the end of the century.

            If this isn’t enough to scare the ski-enthusiasts out there, then it may hurt to know that snow machines aren’t going to provide any relief to this. To function, artificial snow machines prefer a temperature around 28°F, slightly below freezing. So unfortunately, in areas such as Bend, Oregon (which can expect average winter temperatures of 40° in 2100) and Truckee, California (which could be experiencing averages of 50° in winter of 2100), neither artificial nor natural snow will be gracing these slopes.

            2017 was the warmest year on record that was not experiencing the El Niño climatic event. This trend can be expected to continue. Even if you’re not a fan of winter sports, these figures should still alarm you. This threatens future generations’ ability to experience snow in December, or to be able to sled down a snowy hill on winter break. If we want to preserve these bits of fun for both ourselves and future generations, something needs to be done to protect and maintain our climate.

Sources

McCusker, K., & Hess, H. (2018) America’s Shrinking Ski Season. Climate Impact Lab, (2018)