UKH

Yet another study predicted a lack of snow across European ski resorts due to climate change, this study, at first read, seems to cover a wider range of ski areas than other studies I've seen

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01759-5.epdf?sharing_token=Mmwti...

(using this link via the Guardian gives access to the paper rather than just the abstract)

yet it snowed today in la tania!

I saw some shots earlier today of the Gornergrat near Zermatt covered in snow in the murk.

In reply to Mini Mansell:

Ah, that proves it then. Global warming is a hoax .

N.b. Climate shift or global warming does not really mean either. But it does mean abnormal and in cases even extreme weather patterns and events. Which in turn mean that once stable patterns are no longer as stable. For skiing that might indeed mean early snowfall in the fall, but then mild temps and even rain during prime winter season, thus melting away quite rapidly the snow on the slopes. It might also mean dry spells, so again less snow. Which I believe was one of the observations on article, that a lot of European resorts simply do not have snowmaking capabilities (or a lot of them), so without reliable snowfall the resorts can only operate at a very limited capacity, causing crows etc. Which will start to impact tourism. 

It's not the abnormal weather that freaks out ski resorts but the average level of the snow-line, which has been rising for several decades. 

It's been snowing on the tops here (Vercors) the last couple of days and torrential rain down in the valley. I'm about to go out to walk the dogs and it's 8°. Friday was 34°, just like it was every day for the previous three weeks (and over 40 down low in Grenoble). These are extremes that are becoming more normal. 

I assume you know the difference between climate and weather by now? Regardless, snow at the end of August isn't unheard of but it isn't going to fix the problem outlined in the report shared by Doug.

My local lifts are all mid mountain (1400-2200m) and I fully expect that my soon to be born child won't be skiing every year as a teenager in her local area. Last season one of our ski areas used up its entire water allocation before new year for snow making. 

There's already an acceptance and active measures to move the area's resorts to a 365-day model of tourism to shift the dependence away from skiing. The high ski resorts are going to become more crowded and if you don't live near hills then booking a single week in the winter, months in advance, is going to become more of a lottery. 

Snowed above maybe 2500m here in the Ecrins as well, with valley temperatures dropping from 30° plus to not much above 10° in the space of 24 hours. But that's weather , not climate

I'm at Turin airport currently - lots of snow visible from Torino this morning. We could see some as we went up the Susa valley towards France a little way yesterday to find a crag, but there was more cloud and rain then so we could only see some of the tops.

But yep, the rockfall (closed the Turin Lyon railway line a few days ago for example) that they were warning about around Chamonix last week for example, seems much more connected to climate change than one weather front dropping some slightly earlier than normal snow.

...and it has been 40+ in the southern US, Mexico etc for the last few weeks.

Bad news for Skiers, probably worse news for subsaharan subsistence farmers. 😏