[snicker-cr]
UNIVERSITY OF BASEL
CREDIT: VALENTIN LUTHIGER
For many people, holidays in the snow are as much a part of the end of the year as Christmas trees and fireworks. As global warming progresses, however, white slopes are becoming increasingly rare. Researchers at the University of Basel have calculated how well one of Switzerland’s largest ski resorts will remain snow reliable with technical snowmaking by the year 2100, and how much water this snow will consume.
The future for ski sports in Switzerland looks anything but rosy – or rather white. Current climate models predict that there will be more precipitation in winter in the coming decades, but that it will fall as rain instead of snow. Despite this, one investor recently spent several million Swiss francs on expanding the Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski resort. A short-sighted decision they will regret in future?
A research team led by Dr. Erika Hiltbrunner from the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Basel has now calculated the extent to which this ski resort can maintain its economically important Christmas holidays and a ski season of at least 100 days with and without snowmaking. The team collected data on the aspects of the slopes, where and when the snow is produced at the ski resort and with how much water. They then applied the latest climate change scenarios (CH2018) in combination with the SkiSim 2.0 simulation software for projections of snow conditions with and without technical snowmaking. The results of their investigations were recently published in the International Journal of Biometeorology.
No guarantee of a white Christmas
According to the results, the use of technical snow can indeed guarantee a 100-day ski season – in the higher parts of the ski resort (at 1,800 meters and above), at least. But business is likely to be tight during the Christmas holidays in coming decades, with the weather often not cold enough at this time and in the weeks before. In the scenario with unabated greenhouse gas emissions, the Sedrun region in particular will no longer be able to offer guaranteed snow over Christmas in the longer term. New snow guns may alleviate the situation to a certain extent, say the researchers, but will not resolve the issue completely.
“Many people don’t realize that you also need certain weather conditions for snowmaking,” explains Hiltbrunner. “It must not be too warm or too humid, otherwise there will not be enough evaporation cooling for the sprayed water to freeze in the air and come down as snow.” Warm air absorbs more moisture and so, as winters become warmer, it also gets increasingly difficult or impossible to produce snow technically. In other words: “Here, the laws of physics set clear limits for snowmaking.”
540 million liters
The skiing will still go on, however, because technical snowmaking at least enables resort operators to keep the higher ski runs open for 100 consecutive days – even up until the end of the century and with climate change continuing unabated. But there is a high price to be paid for this. The researchers’ calculations show that water consumption for snowmaking will increase significantly, by about 80% for the resort as a whole. In an average winter toward the end of the century, consumption would thus amount to about 540 million liters of water, compared with 300 million liters today.
But this increase in water demand is still relatively moderate compared with other ski resorts, the researchers emphasize. Earlier studies had shown that water consumption for snowmaking in the Scuol ski resort, for example, would increase by a factor of 2.4 to 5, because the area covered with snow there will have to be largely expanded in order to guarantee snow reliability.
For their analysis, the researchers considered periods of 30 years. However, there are large annual fluctuations: In addition, extreme events are not depicted in the climate scenarios. In the winter of 2017 with low levels of snow, water consumption for snowmaking in one of the three sub-areas of Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis tripled.
Conflicts over water use
Today, some of the water used for snowmaking in the largest sub-area of Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis comes from the Oberalpsee. A maximum of 200 million liters may be withdrawn annually for this purpose. If climate change continues unabated, this source of water will last until the middle of the century, at which point new sources will have to be exploited. “The Oberalpsee is also used to produce hydroelectric power,” says Dr. Maria Vorkauf, lead author of the study, who now works at the Agroscope research station. “Here, we are likely to see a conflict between the water demands for the ski resort and those for hydropower generation.”
At first, this ski resort may even benefit from climate change – if lower-lying and smaller ski resorts are obliged to close, tourists will move to larger resorts at higher altitude, one of which is Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis.
What is certain is that increased snowmaking will drive up costs and thus also the price of ski holidays. “Sooner or later, people with average incomes will simply no longer be able to afford them,” says Hiltbrunner.
JOURNAL
International Journal of Biometeorology
If leftists take full control, normal people would not be allowed to ski in any case.
Perhaps they should contact Buffalo. They have a little extra that could be sent their way
I don’t buy this. There’s no telling which way it will go. And right now anyone who predicts doom and gloom, such as no more skiing in the Alps (come on, really?) is suspect in my eyes. More fear porn.
Record loss of ice this summer in the Alps, I wouldn’t bet on it.
I would!
Depends on who is measuring.
https://theconversation.com/glaciers-in-the-alps-are-melting-faster-than-ever-and-2022-was-their-worst-summer-yet-189197
HA!
It is warming faster there than anywhere else. Where have I heard that before? Over and over and over again!
..
Climate: Europe warming faster than rest of world (IPCC)
unric.org
Australia Is Heating Up Faster Than The Rest Of The World | Popular Science (popsci.com)
Eastern Mediterranean, West Asia warming 2 times faster than global average: Report (downtoearth.org.in)
etc, etc, etc. Plenty more of worthless BS claims for the same. Seems everywhere is warming faster than everywhere else.
theconversation? Really?
“Almost Snowless Insbruck” 1964 | Real Climate Science
Olympics In Danger | Real Climate Science
The 1932, 1952 and 1960 winter Olympics almost had to be cancelled due to warm weather and a lack of snow, whereas recent Winter Olympics have been among the coldest on record.
I heard that after the success the World Cup, Qatar is now considering making a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics.
There is always some weather happening somewhere in the world that can be argued to be a result of anthropogenic CO2.
Climate, however, is what happens to weather over a long period. In this case the question “A short-sighted decision they will regret in future?” will be an easy one to measure over the coming decades.
I recall a friend taking a pre-paid ski vacation in the Alps in February 1981. There was no snow, so they toured old German castles instead. So what else is new?
Very vague general predictions can sometimes manifest as truths. So can predictions using precise data with no possibility of future variables. I have never actually seen a precise prediction beyond very short periods that has had any resemblance to actual events.
Predicting a precise 1.5 degree warming over a precise century is no better than a wild guess. Take away precision and I could be right in stating that future global temperature change will be within 5 degrees either way. I could still be wrong but my odds are better.
anyone who has followed weather models has seen the widening range of predicted results as distance into the future increases. Often very evident over a few hours or days.
Anyone with experience of models, such as cash flow projections, know that they are practically useless without constant adjustments over time. It is also obvious that you can make them show any result you desire. Useful when trying to entice investors.
The Earth is in a 2.58 million ice age. It should warm up at some time.
We are spending trillions each year to stay warm. In temperate climates, winter temperatures require warm clothes, warm houses, warm cars, warm office buildings, etc.
10-20 FEET in the Sierras and another foot and a half in Northern Arizona possible beginning the 1st of the year.
We got almost a foot of snow in the Colorado mountains last night and I would have gone skiing today but I was tired from skiing on Tuesday, especially after shoveling my walks and driveway this morning.
Plenty of snow reached the New England area at Christmas this year. Up to four feet in some locations.
All ski areas opening as they clean up/fix their slopes, buildings and roads.
And skiing in New England is not known for being the best. Even back in the 80s there were plenty of times we were on hard man made stuff at Smugglers Notch and Stowe.
That should be helpful to Lake Powell and Lake Mead
It was reported on the radio yesterday that Mamouth Mountin had 13 feet of fresh powder. They also reported that Mamouth had the longest ski season, staying open well into the spring, and expect that to happen in 2023 as well. Maybe the European skiers should fly to California.
RCP8.5 again for the scary scenario.
https://www.bafu.admin.ch/dam/bafu/en/dokumente/wasser/uw-umwelt-wissen/auswirkungen-des-klimawandels-auf-die-schweizer-gewaesser.pdf.download.pdf/UW-2101-E_HydroCH2018.pdf
How does a study based on RCP8.5 make it into a peer-reviewed publication?
Didn’t that baby get thrown out?
RCP8.5 is the ridculous, never-going-to-happen, sharknado-is-more-likely scenario that much of the climate science community has also been turning away from but in more timid language like “unlikely”. “Dr.” Erika Hiltbrunner and the University of Basel didn’t get the memo. Anyone who uses RCP8.5 can immediately dismissed as a climate huckster.
“Didn’t that baby get thrown out?”
It kind of did, but now it looks like it is back.
RCP8.5 is known as the “Business as Usual” model. What is meant by that is it is a model that posits that no CO2 reductions will be made and that coal-fired powerplants will dominate and continue to pour CO2 into the atmosphere. This scenario would account for the most CO2 being put in the atmosphere by humans.
Then, for a while, nations were switching away from coal and replacing it with natural gas, so it looked like RCP8.5 was not going to be the future, but then China and India started building dozens of new coal-fired powerplants and there is no end in sight, so RCP8.5 might be alive and well.
It doesn’t matter. There is no evidence of a correlation between the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the temperatures. The global temperatures have cooled 0.5C since 2016, while increasing amounts of CO2 enter the Earth’s atmosphere at the same time.
Only briefly, “they” (= “the IPCC”) went and immediately snuck it back in again.
AR6, WG-I report, section 1.6.1.4, “The likelihood of reference scenarios, scenario uncertainty and storylines”, on page 239 :
Note that the “new” (CMIP6 for AR6, 2021) SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5 emissions scenarios neatly bracket the “old” (CMIP5 for AR5, 2013) RCP8.5 pathway.
Translation : RCP8.5 is indeed a steaming pile of male bovine excrement.
Later on in the same paragraph :
Translation : RCP8.5 (/ SSP5-8.5) is ****, the “worst-case” emissions scenario you should be using is RCP4.5 (/ SSP2-4.5).
They ended that paragraph, however, as follows :
NB : You have to actually read section 5.4 to find the following admission (in section 5.4.5.4, “Coupled Climate-Carbon Cycle Projections”, on page 733) :
– – – – –
AR6, WG-II (Adaptation) report, Cross-Chapter Box CLIMATE, in the “AR6 WGI Reference Periods, Climate Projections and Global Warming Levels” sub-section, on page 136 :
Translation : We know that RCP8.5 is a steaming pile of male bovine excrement based on the assumption that “the models must be correct” … but we’re going to keep using it anyway.
– – – – –
AR6, WG-III (Mitigation) report, Box 3.3, “The likelihood of high-end emission scenarios”, on page 3-28 (in the “Subject to Final Edits” version) :
Translation : RCP8.5 is “useful” to us … so we will desperately search for any excuse in “the scientific literature” to keep on using it.
Excellent comment, as usual from you. 🙂
Thanks, but …
I just re-discovered GCP’s “projection” for 2022 (Fossil-Fuel + Industry) emissions, issued mid-November, and updated the graph below.
Even though “China and India started building dozens of new coal-fired powerplants”, along with the large number actually commissioned / brought on line in 2022, CO2 emissions couldn’t even get back up to either the (blue, “worst-case / BaU“) RCP4.5 line or the 2010-2019 trend line.
The (red) RCP8.5 line is simply getting further and further away from “factual”.
Visually RCP8.5 cannot be described as anything close to “alive and well”, it’s been “nailed to its perch” since (at least) 2015/2016.
Water is not “consumed” by artificial snow making. It is stored in the winter snow pack then runs off and infiltrates in the spring where it remains fully available for other purposes in rivers and groundwater.
A fraction of a degree of warming in the next century will make little to no impact on otherwise skiable terrain at elevation in the winter in the temperate regions where ski resorts are located.
Beat me to it. I was going to add that if it rains more as they claim it will, there’s more water in the lake from that also.
Not that I think any of this will come to pass. The IPCC’s own report from AR5 predicted minimum impact to winter sports. Not sure what AR6 said, that tomb was written to be completely unusable.
There is no appreciable difference in snow melt at -40 or -5 Take your pick of °F or °C.
That depends on how hard the sun is shining. It’s not unusual for snow to melt even when temperatures are below freezing.
It requires more than sunlight, such as a dark underlay or dust on the snow. There is such a thing as sublimation.
I did say appreciable. I have not seen a single drip or icicle from my roof eaves this year in spite of sunny days. Of course at my latitude the sun is shining at a very low angle and for rather short periods each day.
The other thing is that any snow melt that may happen almost immediately refreezes into ice. Only volume is affected.
Right, water doesn’t melt at either temperature, it will sublimate however.
Mhmmm…
What were the climate “scientists” predicting from 1980/1990 of the snow conditions in 2023? The same thing I imagine. I will never take these predictions seriously
Yup the snow’s going, probably to the same place the glaciers in Glacier National Park didn’t go. The rangers there at least took down the signs predicting their demise. I wonder if I’ll live long enough to see one of these predictions come true.
Models ! All climate models run hot and I would bet that this model is no different .
I would think that some one at WUWT is keeping a record of all the failed predictions coming from universities and government departments .
The world climate will move back to a colder phase as it always has in the past .
Our closest ski fields in the North Island of New Zealand are on Mt Ruapehu .
Whakapapa and Turoa have had 2 bad seasons with Covid lock downs and then little snow this winter .
The chairlift company has gone into voluntary administration and faces liquidation.
Of course the news media are blaming a lack of snow this year but it was the Covid scare and lock downs that did the damage 2020 and 2021 .
extinctionclock.org has a good record going back 50 years. They are still waiting to report a correct prediction.
Fat chance. WUWT would need a cast of thousands to keep a record of ALL the failed predictions coming from universities and government departments .
Isn’t that the truth! 🙂
Meanwhile at my home with a very low elevation (compared to this ski resort)….
The data Chase is using goes back to 1990; here’s the full list after the 2006 cutoff :
2005: 6.9
2004: 3.7 (inches)
2003: 31.2
2002: 3.4
2001: 19.9
2000: 12.9
1999: 18
1998: 6.6
1997: 6.6
1996: 16
1995: 1.4
1994: 13.6
1993: 8.3
1992: 16.9
1991: 6.8
1990: 14.3
From the looks of it, it seems to just be a healthy mix of either above or below average snowfall and I don’t see much of a trend. What’s going on at this ski resort is likely just natural variability.
“What’s going on at this ski resort is likely just natural variability.”
It is until proven otherwise, and that hasn’t been done, anywhere, at anytime.
Our local Mt. Batchelor ski resort is varying. It opened early December, got 13″ yesterday, has a 56″ base and will get piles more over the next couple of weeks. Should we infer global warming, global cooling, or just a local ski conditions report. https://www.mtbachelor.com/the-mountain/weather-operations/conditions-report
Their projections don’t pan out by the deadline and they just double down and say the same crap again extending the deadline out like they were never dead wrong before.
Meanwhile in the real world, every ski resort from BC down to Australia have had great snow this year. Winter Park, opened two slopes earlier than it ever has in it’s 80+ year history. Vail opened early. Scotland has had some great snow despite the passing of the deadline for that sports demise. etc, etc, etc.
“Every ski resort… had great snow this year” Not quite: “This new spell of rain, while shorter and less intense than last week’s, is bad news for the already struggling low resorts of the north-western Alps, where natural snow cover is already very patchy. It is also set to stay very mild over the New Year period.”
For the rain to melt it there had to be snow!
Show the webcams or give it up. I showed several below, including one from Switzerland.
I didn’t say anything about the rain melting the snow, it was raining instead of snowing. As stated the low resorts in the NW alps are struggling due to lack of snow.
You say a lot and show nothing.
Actually I linked to a source but if you want some webcam shots, here’s Le Semnoz near Annecy:
000_336689J.jpg
Here’s another one, doesn’t look very good for skiing:
Ski-resorts-1714712.jpg
This one is in Switzerland:
skynews-snow-alps_6012804.jpg
Apparently half of the resorts are closed due to lack of snow.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1714712/snow-french-ski-resorts-rain-alps-news-latest
I like this set of webcam shots showing progress since 2017.
index.php
At Winter Park Colorado 12/29 ten PM.
Current temp -14.5C eleven inches of snow in the last 24 hours twelve more inches expected in the next five days. Very good snow season so far for the Colorado resorts.
Grand Targhee resort just over the pass from Jackson Hole in the Tetons.
Webcams | Grand Targhee
Zugspitze webcams
Webcams │ zugspitze.de
Vipiteno, Italy Sud Tirol
Livecams & webcams in Vipiteno Campo di Trens Val di Vizze South Tyrol
Zermatt ski resort near the Matterhorn
Webcam Zermatt – Matterhorn (roundshot.com)
Absolute, absurdly pessimistic predictions are that the world is going to warm less than 2C over the next 100 years.
2C means the alps will be above freezing?
Really?
I don’t know what they’re talking about. Maybe Europe is different. Here in Colorado I’ve gone skiing as early as October and as late as the 4th of July (Arapahoe Basin!).
There are liars, damned liars and there are Climate Alarmists.
>Sooner or later, people with average incomes will simply no longer be able to afford them,
Or to misquote David Viner: “Poor people just aren’t going to know what snow is”
Of course they will. Who do you think will be doing the shoveling once gas powered snowblowers are outlawed?
We’re an inventive lot us humans, sometimes, just witness the GHGE for starters.
I have every confidence we’ll learn to ski on mountains of BS – I suspect we’re gonna have to- there’ll be one on every street corner before long
I’ve been living in Switzerland, since 1973. A white Christmas, and skiing over the Christmas holidays, except in the highest altitude ski resorts was always a rare event. This year, there has been a clear increase in snowfall in November and December, and temperatures below zero for two weeks during these months which also doesn’t happen very often around Basel. Now over new year, the temps are above zero at low altitude and the alarmists immediately start “buzzing” again about “record temps” and a “no-skiing future.” Last year, many resorts shut down shortly after Easter (as they usually do) although there was enough snow around for at least another month. It’s all just spin …
The snowmaking installations are there because even if you have low temps, it doesn’t mean that there’s precipitation (e.g. snowfall). “Warming” isn’t the problem.
Yes it’s utter bollox.
Just went skiing in perfect conditions in Chamonix 2 weeks ago, children did toboggan then the outdoor ice rink in Les Houches.
I don’t know why they keep coming out with this tosh.
Mid january the cold comes back properly in the alps, and then you will have the moaners all saying it’s too cold and too much snow!
Rutgers University shows northern hemisphere gently increasing snow cover since 1967
Tell that to the folks in the Sierra Nevada, California:
https://www.onthesnow.com/california/skireport
Here’s my plan, I’m just looking for research funding and investors..
When the glaciers disappear build dams to store the water for later release to keep rivers flowing and generate clean renewable energy. As the valleys were recently filled with ice filling them with water should only have a positive effect, more wildlife for one. The lakes created would become leisure facilities, water skiing, canoeing and sailing.
Junk Science all based on the assumption that temperatures will continue to climb because CO2 will continue to increase.
There is no evidence this is the case. It is pure speculation.
There is evidence that temperatures will not continue to climb even as CO2 amounts increase. The present day temperatures are evidence CO2 is not causing the temperatures to climb because the temperatures have cooled 0.5C globally since 2016 even though CO2 has continued to increase during that time. According to these climate scientists, the temperatures should have continued climbing higher than 2016, as CO2 climbs. But that hasn’t happened. Maybe the climate scientists are wrong about CO2. Their theory doesn’t seem to be describing reality.
This climate change study is pure fearmongering. Based on flawed computer models and flawed thinking.
And we get this kind of junk climate science *every* day. People’s heads must be spinning.
And, we still haven’t seen the emperical data that establishes CO2 actually contributes to warming. Junk science is another definition of conjecture.
There is the possibility that temperatures will fall while CO2 levels rise. There must be a warmist theory around to cover that eventuality.
Based on my personal way-back machine, this story is a lie.
It was the winter of 77/78 and there was no snow on the ski slopes of Colorado. I would drive by Mt. Werner outside Steamboat Springs and look up at the slopes and only see mud. That’s the way it was all winter long.
This was the winter that was the impetus for installing snow making machinery in all the major ski areas.
This was the year the Steamboat residents tried to shovel by hand what little snow was in the trees onto one of the slopes to keep the resort open.
For a little perspective, wet adiabatic lapse rates vary between 3.6°C – 5.5°C/ 1000m (using wet as that is more appropriate than dry for when it is precipitating). Let’s take the middle at 4.5°C /1000m to do some math.
Even if one were to buy into the global warming models (to be clear, I don’t ), the expected temp rise by 2100 is ~ 1.5° C
So, the average snow level change : ~1.5/4.5 = ~ 333 M or ~ 1000 ft
Only ski areas that are already at the edge of the average rain-snow line & have less than 1000 ft of vertical would be in jeopardy of not having snow. And the reality is that is basically none of the ski areas in major skiing regions.
Once again, more unwarranted doom & gloom from the climate-industrial complex
Now… I need to head out & finish shoveling the snow on the driveway (from storm 2 days ago in Colorado)
I guess we will have to go to Saudi Arabia for our skiing holidays from now.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2022/12/27/In-pictures-Snow-blankets-Saudi-Arabia-s-Tabuk-as-temperatures-drop-drastically
I skied Lebanon in 1984.
Dr. Erika Hiltbrunner? Is that her real name or should it be Dr Erika Viner?
Been skiing since the mid 70’s and skiing before the new year is always hit and miss every year and often different for different parts of the USA. Commenting on USA only. Currently snowpack at Mammoth is 164% of average. Running near the same most everywhere so story is classic mainstream media hokum meant to counter reality.
Skiing is fine in Northeastern PA, and our elevations aren’t exactly Himalayan.
This is a scientific, peer reviewed variation of “Our children will not know what snow was”.
This quote makes me laugh: “Despite this, one investor recently spent several million Swiss francs on expanding the Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski resort. A short-sighted decision they will regret in future?”
Reminds me of all the people who think it’s crazy to buy oceanfront property. This “investor” is a savvy critical thinker who can look beyond the crazed rabid rhetoric and knows an opportunity when he sees it.
Joey Biden apparently doesn’t like snow….he’s vacationing in warm latitudes…he has a Holiday Message for all….”Thanks, suckers!”
F J B
Go back into the historical records and look up the winters1987-1990. They were stunningly appalling in their lack of resort snow for the first half of the season, huge high pressures lodged themselves over the Alps and lots of people had to have a walking holiday, not a ski-ing holiday.
There’s nothing new about green Christmases in Europe – they just don’t happen every year.
Well, well, well.
Coolest Year On Record In SydneyPosted on December 31, 2022 by tonyheller
No temperatures over 90F. Record goes back to 1859.
Coolest Year On Record In Sydney | Real Climate Science
The Earth is still in a 2.588 million-year ice age called the Quaternary Glaciation, in a warm interglacial period that lasts around 10,000 years and that alternates with a cold glacial period that lasts around 90,000 years, in a hundred thousand-year cycle that has going on for about a million years, before that it was a 41,000-year cycle. The ice age won’t end until all permafrost(11% of the planet), glaciers (200,000+ glaciers), and other natural ice on Earth melt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_glaciation
Yet another bit of nonsense for the bulging failed catastrophic climate doom predictions file.