In the coming years, European winter sports areas will more often have to deal with snow scarcity caused by climate change. If the current climate trend continues, about half of the winter sports resorts in 28 countries may soon experience a shortage of snow. This is evident from a scientific analysis of 2,234 European ski resorts, the results of which were published on Monday in the magazine Nature.
Read also: Landscape sadness in the Alps
Last winter, the consequences of climate change on winter sports areas were already visible in various countries. The Austrian and French slopes in particular turned green due to the relatively high temperatures at the beginning of the year. The lower skiers and snowboarders got, the worse the conditions on the slopes and the greater the risk of accidents. In January, about half of the French pistes had to close as they were accessible for longer.
Because the natural supply is increasingly faltering, winter sports areas use artificial snow, which is sprayed onto the slopes via cannons. The method uses a lot of water and energy and is therefore environmentally harmful, although according to the researchers it represents a “modest fraction” of the total emissions of the ski industry. In addition, artificial snow in warmer and more southerly areas may no longer be a solution to save slopes.