One in eight ski resorts to lose their snow this century, forecast predicts

One in eight ski areas could lose all snow by the end of the century, a study using climate change impact models has found.

Average annual snow cover is predicted to fall in all areas that the study looked at, from Europe to North and South America and New Zealand.

Between 2071–2100, the average annual snow cover days were predicted to decline most in the Australian Alps, in the south-east of Australia, at 78 per cent, with the Southern Alps, in New Zealand, following at 51 per cent.

The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, examined the impact of climate change on annual natural snow cover in seven major skiing regions.

Dr Veronika Mitterwallner, of the University of Bayreuth, in Germany, said: “Climate change is negatively affecting snow reliability in ski areas all over the world.

“Concern about how skiable the future will be is rising amongst professional and amateur skiers and the skiing industry.

“This study demonstrates significant future losses in natural snow cover of current ski areas worldwide, indicating spatial shifts of ski area distributions, potentially threatening high-elevation ecosystems.

Skiable areas ‘concentrated’

“Overall, less ski areas will remain snow reliable under future climate conditions and hence, skiable areas will be concentrated to spatially restricted higher elevations.”

The study looked at the Alps, in central Europe; Andes Mountains, in South America; Australian Alps; Japanese Alps; Southern Alps, in New Zealand; Appalachian Mountains and Rocky Mountains, in North America.

They identified specific skiing locations within these seven regions, with the European Alps accounting for 69 per cent of these areas.

They used Chelsa, a public climate database, to help them predict annual snow cover days for each ski area for the timeline 2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100 under low, high, and very high carbon emissions scenarios.

At high emissions, 13 per cent of ski areas are predicted to lose all natural snow cover by 2071-2100 relative to their historic baselines and 20 per cent will lose more than half of their snow cover days per year.

The Rocky Mountains are predicted to experience the least decline at 23 per cent.

The researchers state that diminishing snow cover may prompt resorts to move or expand into less populated areas, potentially threatening alpine plants and animals already under climate-induced strain.

Resorts favouring fake snow may rely on “technical snowmaking” practices like artificial snow production, but regardless, the authors predicted that the economic profitability of ski resorts would fall globally.