Warmest Winter In France Since 1900; Ski Resorts Closing Down; Artificial Snow Not A Likely Option

[hatrack]

Chairlifts are pictured over ski slopes closed due to lack of snow, at the ski resort of The Mourtis in Boutx, France, 10 February 2020. Photo: Regis Duvignau / REUTERS

LE MOURTIS, France (Reuters) – This year’s winter in France has, so far, been the mildest in more than a century, and that has had a direct impact on the ski resort of Le Mourtis, in the Pyrenees mountains. “There’s no snow,” said French holidaymaker Frederic Foltran, setting off for the piste this week not with his skis but with a two-wheeled scooter designed for whizzing down grassy pastures.

The lack of snow has forced the resort to temporarily close down its ski runs in mid-season, local restaurateurs and hoteliers are counting the cost of fewer visitors, and those people that do come make do with other pursuits, like hiking.

The daytime temperature on Monday was above 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). Several hikers removed their jackets and tied them round their waist as they picked their way across pastures dappled with patches of snow. But it is more than just a bad year. With scientists predicting a long-term rise in global temperatures, people who earn a livelihood from wintersports in Mourtis are having to contemplate a future with much less snow.


Snow groomers are pictured at the ski resort of The Mourtis, as the ski slopes are closed due to lack of snow in Boutx, France, 10 February 2020. Photo: Regis Duvignau / REUTERS

EDIT

Weather has always fluctuated from year to year, but Robert said a clear pattern was emerging – of mild winters and less snow – that was in line with global warming. If the trend continues, ski resorts around 1,600 meters above sea level will be so warm they cannot even spray artificial snow on their pistes. It will melt.

EDIT

https://desdemonadespair.net/2020/02/the-ski-resort-with-no-snow-contemplates-a-warmer-future-if-the-snow-is-not-there-we-have-to-sell-something-else.html

[madaboutharry]

1. It has also been weirdly warm in Norway.

In Norway ski runs also closed because of no snow. They have had record warm temperatures all winter.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50971446

[Botany]

2. My get away place in place in western MD, New Germany State Park, has not had any real snow ....

... all winter and my yearly trip to X-country ski there hasn't happened. Columbus, OH has had
almost no snow too.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Hardly any x country skiing or snowshoeing in coastal Maine the last few years.

[Botany]

4. 68 degrees on parts of Antarctica last week.

The place I go in western MD is in the mountains (not big but still tall enough) and it would
pick up and hold some snow from November to March. If you got there at the right time some
snow was almost a daily occurrence as the clouds passed over the mountains they would drop
some snow.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Cannot wrap my head around those polar temps. Mind boggling!

[Botany]

6. We have melted much of the polar ice cap (north cap) and that has changed weather patterns ...

... because of changes to the jet stream and rain storms in the great plains and the mid west
that used to last half a day or so now stick around for days and the farmers just can't get into
their fields because they are flooded. The jet stream used to push the storms on through but
not anymore.

BTW another change we have seen is strong late winter snow/ice/rain storms.

Always remember that Ronald Reagan took the solar panels down from the White House
when he took over. I wonder where we would be right now as per green energy technology
and how many billions of tons of carbon hadn't been pumped into the atmosphere if
we had "stayed the course" for the past 40 years.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Also would have been great if climate change-inducing industries had been on the level from the

start when they first realized what impact they would have on the planet. Most of those men are probably gone now. I wonder what their descendants will think of them?

[Botany]

8. My local electric company* paid for bull shit studies and republican candidates that denied ...

... the reality of global warming and that acid rain from coal didn't really hurt the
environment for years. Now they have little booths set up with little wind turbine
drawings where college age young people talk about "green energy" to the public.
I want to vomit when I see those booths.


* American Electric Power

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00497-4

With the collapse of this antarctic glacier we are looking @ a > 1.5 foot rise in sea level world wide.