Warming Facts – The Effects of Global Warming on Ski Weather & Snow Levels

This article does not address the environmental problems or global warming solutions; it concentrates on what changes, if any, will occur to snow levels and ski weather up to the end of the century.

I’m not interested here in discussing the approach of the apocalypse with the attendant earthquakes, typhoons and thunderstorms, but whether we like it or not (pun intended) the Earth’s climate is warming up at an alarming rate and faster than it has ever done. As someone who has skied all their life I’m interested in finding out about about global warming and how it will alter ski weather and snow levels. Last season had some of the biggest snowfalls ever – check this clip which demonstrates the current snow levels trend.

We are observing a staggering increase in the world’s temperature over the next ninety years of around 6.4°C. This is a projected estimate and roughly five times more than the increase of the past hundred years. A lot of people assume that the snow will melt away, like the glaciers are doing, all together, and rain will be predominant, or that there won’t be any rain at all, but this is most unlikely.

This is how the world’s climate works – it’s a bit simplistic but gives an insight into how the climate affects precipitation, otherwise known as snow and rain. Water vapour or hot wet air ascends from the equator, heated by the sun. This water vapour forms the vast circular weather systems in both hemispheres as it cools and descends, propelled by the earth’s rotational forces.

North of the equator, for example, the major weather systems trundle from west to east on account of the earth’s rotation and precipitation mainly occurs as these systems meet the land. And the landmass we are looking at here is the west of Europe (the Alps) and the west of North America (the Rockies). As we are aware, the air is pushed up over the Rockies and the Alps where it either snows or rains.

Commercial Break: Make the best of Global Warming Solutions – Improve Skiing Fitness – Buy a Bike

With the climate warming up we are going to get more moisture in the weather systems moving up from equatorial regions, so the precipitation will be higher. But will it be rain or snow?. If the Earth’e temperature rises by 6.4°C this century it will mean that the rain snow location on a mountain will move higher. If for example the snow level on a mountainside is at 1000 metres, by the the end of this century it will have risen to 2000 metres as the temperature falls by roughly 6.5°C per 1000 metres. We are going to get increased preciptation and the altitude where rain turns to snow will be moving up the mountain by approximately ten metres every year.

So it looks like there are a few years left yet, and I’ll finish by throwing this little spanner into the algorithm. As the world gets warmer the Greenland icecap will melt even faster. It is not fully known what this will do to the Gulf Stream. Known as the Atlantic conveyor this life giving current brings warm water up from the tropics past the coast of Europe. Thirteen thousand years ago it stopped flowing. The reason? A huge lake of cold freshwater burst its banks on the east coast of Canada and dropped into the North Atlantic, disrupting the Gulf Stream almost straightaway. If the Greenland icecap carries on melting at its accelerating pace, then it could more than likely switch off the Gulf Stream as well. This could result in the European Alps having snowfalls higher than ever, while the Rockies, become well, just rockier…

For the full article and more visit Ski Jungle – Ski Weather

Technorati Tags:: global warming solutions, ski weather, snow levels, warming facts