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Is skiing doomed as we know it in the NE

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crashpants

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Global warming does not equal less precipitation. Warm weather does, however, mean less snow. Has it reached the critical stage yet in the NE and Mid-Atlantic? Seems like it might in a few decades.

I can only go by statistics, which show that last year was the second warmest on record. And that 18 of the 19 on record have occurred since 2001. This is from NASA, which I'd say is pretty reputable. https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

As to whether humans can stop/slow climate change? The science is pretty clear that human-related activity is contributing to it. The question is, do we just dance on the bonfire or try to put it out? I'm going to go to my grave with a mixed scorecard, for sure...

Yes, but it snowed this year! I saw it; therefore, lies.
 

raisingarizona

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As has been pointed out by several people, the NE has always had inconsistent winter weather, but climate change is making it significantly more volatile. It was 70 degrees in Boston on the 11th. The previous January record was 62.

I don't necessarily believe that this change means the end of NE skiing though. Some resorts will certainly close, but those that can adapt will be ok. Successful resorts will have to find a way to shift between their warm and cold weather activities literally overnight to take advantage of whatever nature brings. There will still be some great winters, the extreme nature of the volatility will mean there may even be some amazing winters now and then.

It will hang on until it can’t any longer. It will become so expensive that most people will be priced out but if climate predictions are correct we will have much bigger problems than the end of east coast skiing. People are going to start starving and hungry, desperate folks tend to get a little aggressive.
 

crgildart

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Warmer air carries more moisture. That means bigger snow totals when that warm air hits cold air and dumps.. It also means bigger rain totals when it doesn't. So, it gets a bunch better for skiers before it gets a lot worse for skiers Better is happening in the northwest right now.. Worse is happening in the mid atlantic and northeast right now.... which were pretty good 20 years ago..
 

raisingarizona

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Warmer air carries more moisture. That means bigger snow totals when that warm air hits cold air and dumps.. It also means bigger rain totals when it doesn't. So, it gets a bunch better for skiers before it gets a lot worse for skiers Better is happening in the northwest right now.. Worse is happening in the mid atlantic and northeast right now.... which were pretty good 20 years ago..

It’s been interesting down here. The pack seems to be more dense on average but we get one or two rain events that go all the way to the top every season creating some funky instabilities. Overall it’s been pretty good.
 

scott43

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We just got 70mm of rain in January...new record..I was on basement flood watch... 70mm in a summer thunderstorm is unusual here.. We've broken the 100 year storm rainfall total twice in the last 5 years.. I can tell you one thing, my next house purchase will be based on land contours....
 

crgildart

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I can tell you one thing, my next house purchase will be based on land contours....

We are almost at the very highest part of our neighborhood, and in our town. No major rivers or lakes nearby, a pond with some creeks feeding it about a mile away and a good 200 feet of elevation down. Still, Mrscrgildart and I have friends who were not anywhere near flood plains and still got wiped out by Hurricane Matthew. Damns and levies failed, an entire lake emptied and wreaked a lot of havoc. So, when she pushed for us to add a basic flood policy, I just shrugged and said sure... even though I'm still confident it would take something truly exceptional and unimaginable to me for our house to flood. Now the folks down the hill at the end of the block? They're on sketchy ground for sure.

Definitely look at the neighborhood topography when buying property.
 

WheatKing

Ice coast carveaholic
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Ontario, Canada
Good news for all you warmists.. it's supposed to snow again this weekend.
Enjoy it while you can.. the jet stream will probably dive south again to take it all away the following week.


NEWeekend.jpeg
 

jack97

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I like the new narrative now, global warming is going to cause global cooling....... its "1984" happening in real time.

Any one who is interested in looking at data of NE instead of the non validated climate models can check out the Mount Mansfield data set. You can look at snow depth though the various seasons as show in the image below.

https://www.matthewparrilla.com/mansfield-stake/

mansfield.png
 

jack97

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More data to show global warming is causing global cooling........ from the Rutger's Global snow lab.
During winter, the northern hemisphere has an increase of snow extent. Spring decreased while the fall increased. Instead of appropriating funds to endorse a political narrative, I rather fund studies on why the spring and fall seasons have changed in snow cover. Furthermore, to explore if remote sensing techniques can accurately measure snow depth at a global scale.

nhland_season1.png
nhland_season2.png
nhland_season4.png
 

CalG

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Vt
What would you purpose we do? Climate change is a world problem, here in America we could do everything to stop climate change and never have any impact. Not to mention the world has been warming for thousands of years , yeah maybe humans aren’t helping matters but it’s inevitable.
personally I think it’s all a big cycle and we as humans haven’t been around long enough to understand that. In other words this world we live in has a spring summer fall and winter. I’m more worried that we kill each other with bombs then climate change.

What can we do?

Quit calling climate change a problem would be a start.
Humans are part of nature... Nature is never constant nor predictable.

Just like humans.

Live with it!
 

dbostedo

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EDIT: This thread is now closed.

While we don't discourage sharing of ideas relevant to skiing, we are not going to have a general thread debating climate change, or points therein. Thank you.

From our posting guidelines:


Politics, Religion, and Hot Topics
This is a community for talking about skis, skiing, and everything related to skis and skiing. Discussion about subjects such as global warming as it relates to skiing will be allowed so long as it remains respectful and healthy; however, general discussion about politics, religion, and hot topics will not be allowed. We reserve the right to define these categories.
 
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