From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Will they ever tire of being wrong?

How climate change threatens to close ski resorts

By Isabelle Gerretsen 25th January 2023

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

…

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

“It was exceptionally warm over Christmas and New Year,” says Stephanie Dijkman, director of Anzère tourism. “Nearly all the snow in the village was gone. I was quite worried.” People were unable to ski down to the village, she adds.

Fortunately, it started snowing again in early January, just in time for the arrival of the “real skiing fans” who book their trips outside of the holiday season and are hoping for “very good conditions”, she says.

…

When temperatures rise, the atmosphere ends up holding more water vapour which leads to more rainfall, says Marie Cavitte, a glaciologist and climate researcher at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. “[When] temperatures increase, [water vapour] falls as rain instead of falling as snow,” she adds. “That is what is happening at low altitude ski stations, which are below 1,600m (5,250ft). There we are seeing a lot more rain on snow events which increase the melting of existing snow.”

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

Back in 2021, the BBC told us global warming was making winter colder;

Climate change: Arctic warming linked to colder winters

Published2 September 2021
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

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

The scientists found that heating in the region ultimately disturbed the circular pattern of winds known as the polar vortex.

This allowed colder winter weather to flow down to the US, notably in the Texas cold wave in February. 

The authors say that warming will see more cold winters in some locations.

…

Over the past four decades, satellite records have shown how increasing global temperatures have had a profound effect on the Arctic. 

…

“We’re arguing that melting sea ice across Northwest Eurasia, coupled with increased snowfall across Siberia is leading to a strengthening of the temperature difference from west to east across the Eurasian continent,” explained lead author Dr Judah Cohen, who’s a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a director of Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a weather risk management company. 

“We know when that temperature difference increases, that leads to more disruptions of the polar vortex. And when it’s weakened, that leads to more extreme winter weather such as the Texas cold wave last February.”

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

Reading the BBC, it seems climate change causes 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 settled.