last
updated 3rd March 05
By 4ecotips
 Skiing
without snow could be coming soon
Charles Hawley in Berlin writes:
always dreamed of skiing in the Alps?
Better do it quick. Rising global
temperatures are bringing shorter
winters to Europe and increasing difficulties
for its famous ski resorts. Many resorts
are already suffering and some winter-sport
regions are already beginning to plan
for a life, aprés ski.
Skiing without snow is coming soon
to a mountain near you warn UN experts.
For the moment, life couldn't be better
in the Alps. Resorts glisten with
snow and with rosy-cheeked skiiers
anxious to hit the freshly fallen
powder that magically seems to keep
coming. Enjoy it now, scientists say,
because this image of a winter wonderland
may soon be but a distant memory.
The truth is, stunning, snow-capped
Alps and their accompanying glitzy
ski resorts (Austria's Kitzbuhel,
Germany's Garmisch-Partenkirchen and
Italy's Cortina), are losing their
snow. In fact, winters in mountainous
regions across Europe are getting
warmer and shorter.
The result will be catastrophic for
the winter sport industry. Already,
experts say, a number of the lower-lying
ski areas – especially those
below the 1,000 meter (3,280 feet)
mark – are endangered and can
no longer rely on regular winter snowfall.
And a much-cited United Nations report
indicates that the level at which
one can reliably expect snow may rise
to as high as 1,800 meters (almost
6,000 feet) in the next few decades.
Hundreds of ski areas in Europe are
investing in snow canons to extend
their shrinking ski seasons. “We
have seen that in the last years and
decades that winters have become much
milder than before and that there
isn't nearly as much snowfall,"
says Mojib Latif, a climate researcher
at the Leibnitz Institute for Oceanography
at the University of Kiel in northern
Germany.
“All simulations show this
trend will continue in the future
and that we have to expect an intense
warming in the Alps. Short term, where
climate change is more erratic, there
will continue to be big snowfalls.
But in the long-term we can say that,
especially in the foothills, snow
will turn to rain and winter sports
will no longer be possible anymore.”
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