Tahoe's ski industry mindful of climate change

Julie Brown / Sierra Sun
June 13, 2008

This is the first in a two-part series on the effects of climate change on the Sierra Nevada. The once-legendary winters of the Sierra Nevada have shortened and drop less snow.

This portrait, according to climate change projections cast by local, state and national scientists, may no longer be fiction by the end of the century - or even in 50 years. And ski resorts are well aware of what climate change scientists are saying.

"It's integral that we take on climate change," said Savannah Cowley, spokeswoman for Squaw Valley. "It's something that, since we are directly impacted by (global warming), everyone (in the ski industry) is taking responsibility. And it's a great thing."

Climate projections
This is what the scientists are predicting: The snowline will rise, spring runoff will melt sooner, and more precipitation will fall as rain instead of snow, especially at lower elevations.

"There's a consensus that we will lose snowpack," said Dan Cayan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. "The degree of loss could range by quite a broad amount, depending on how much warming occurs. And I think that's pretty well agreed upon - that higher amounts of warming will result in greater losses" of snow.

By the end of the century, if temperatures rise 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the Sierra Nevada ski season will shrink by a month, according to the 2006 California Climate Change Center summary report's base projection. If temperatures rise even higher, the state report says that in 100 years, the Sierra Nevada may see many years without enough snow to ski at all.

"If the world economy continues on this sort of high-carbon diet, it's not good," Cayan said. "And these changes will happen faster and to a larger degree than if things are moderated."

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