Global Warming or Just Bad Luck for New England Ski Industry?
Ask any individual who has lived in New England and they will tell you that winters are nothing like they used to be. While there have certainly been notable storms, for the most part winters are much more mild and tend to have much less snow. The winter of 2006 is certainly no exception. A great deal of New England has had a mere dusting to a couple of inches of snow. Most of ground in New England is uncovered with snow (so we get to put up with that brown muddy look that is so pleasant).
For the ski industry this kind of weather makes for very challenging business conditions. The New England ski industry is coming off a mediocre 2005. As we roar into the end of 2006, the 2006 ski conditions are looking like a disaster for the New England ski industry. Take a look at these ski condition statistics as of the last week of December, 2006:
- Less than 20% of ski trails are open throughout New England. This is true all the way up north where in Maine they have about 18% of trails open, in New Hampshire also 18%, and in Vermont where they are doing a little better it's 19% of trails that are in operation.
- For those trails that are open conditions are not be very good. In Maine the average snow coverage is 9 to 19 inches. In New Hampshire the coverage is 8 to 22 inches, and in Vermont the coverage is 10 to 24 inches. No matter how you cut it, you will be running into a lot of ice...
We can debate whether it is global warming or just bad luck until we are blue in the face (although most respected scientists would say that global warming is a factor). One has to wonder how long ski resorts can absorb these kind of winters before it is no longer economically viable to stay in operation.
One also has to wonder what we will be doing for outdoor winter sports if winters keep up like this. What can you do on mud when it is forty to fifty degrees out? Is anybody about to go water skiing instead of ice skating when the water is in the forties? Dirt bikes instead of snowmobiles? Hiking in the mud instead of cross country skiing or snow shoeing? Without snow the prospects look somewhat bleak, don't they. Maybe it is time to give up and move to a warmer climate since we are loosing so much of that New England winter charm. Or maybe we can just wait a few years for the warmer climate to come here permanently...
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