Snowblog Grok

El Niño Dries Up, The Climate Heats Up

By Matthew Frank, 12-06-06

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Klaus Wolter said last month that a wet winter was likely in store for Colorado thanks to a continuing and strengthening El Niño. But now, Kim McGuire of the Denver Post reports, Wolter and others are predicting very dry conditions and warmer temperatures in most of Colorado until February, at which time "copious" amounts of snow could fall. Wolter was quoted in the article as saying, "It might be the last hurrah for quite some time." Read the full article here.

Christopher Clarey of the New York Times wrote in November that very few winter sports celebrities have inserted themselves in the global climate change debate despite their sport's vulnerability. But Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety has stepped up, according to the AP. In the wake of World Cup events in Europe being cancelled to due to warm weather and lack of snow, Ligety, who is reportedly working with the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about the issue, is asking people to contact their representatives to urge them to create policies to curb climate change. Ligety is quoted as saying, "At this point, I don't think there's many people who can deny there are effects to global warming."

Meanwhile, the Casper Star-Tribune is running a story today by Veronika Oleksyn reporting that the Alps in Europe are going through their warmest period in 1,300 years. It's the conclusion of a three-and-a-half year European Union-sponsored study headed up by Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics. Boehm said the current warm period in the Alps began in the 1980s, but that humans began to impact the global climate in the 1950s by cooling it with the release of aerosols before greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane warmed it up. The article quotes Boehm as saying, "It will undoubtedly get warmer in the future."

Finally, Blaine Harden and Juliet Eilperin write in the Washington Post that with the effects of climate change being realized now, "animals and plants are being compelled, along with businesses and bureaucracies, to take action aimed at self-preservation." The article checks in with rancher Tom Maclay at his contentious Bitterroot Resort just south of Missoula, which will be limited to his property alone, and not the 12,000 acres of public land he's hoping to lease above it, should the Forest Service stick to its draft forest management plans. Without that land, and with a snow line creeping higher up the hill, the resort will only be viable, it appears, with significant snow-making capabilities. Read the full article here.

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