Climate change is affecting the Olympics and Winter sports as a whole destroying an entire industry!
Climate change continues to present daunting challenges across various sectors, and it seems the recreational winter sports industry is not immune. A new study from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography predicts that most ski resorts... , especially those located between 5,000 and 10,000 feet, could close by 2050.
The study points out that atmospheric rivers, which originate from the Pacific Ocean and cause warmer and wetter storm systems, are primarily responsible for this looming threat. These weather systems produce snow at higher altitudes and rain at lower ones. As these storms continue to grow warmer due to Climate change, they will push the snowline higher, reducing the snowpack at lower altitudes. Snowpack is projected to decline over the next few decades. If we continue at the current carbon emissions rate (RCP 8.5), rain will be increasingly more likely than snow in areas up to 7,300 feet in elevation by 2050. By 2100, rain will be more likely than snow up to 10,000 feet in elevation.
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