Report shows climate change will hurt winter sports industry
NH's high mountains might deal with effects better than others
NH's high mountains might deal with effects better than others
NH's high mountains might deal with effects better than others
A new study on climate change shows that it's having an increasingly negative effect on the winter sports industry.
Elizabeth Burakowski, a climate scientist at the University of New Hampshire, worked on the report, which contained snowfall data that was gathered in New Hampshire.
This study is a follow-up to one completed in 2012 that looked at how climate change affects winter activities such as skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling.
The study finds that the U.S. winter sports tourism industry generates more than $20 billion annually, but that revenue could be hurt by climate change.
"We're going to start seeing more winters like what we're seeing here," Burakowski said.
The study was done by the group Protect Our Winters. Researchers looked at 15 years of data, from 2001 to 2016, and tracked the impact snowfall had on winter sports activities.
"This is a problem when we have lower snowfall," Burakowski said. "Then we have fewer days of snow cover, natural or man-made snow. This has an impact on our visitations to our ski resorts and our mountain communities."
The report found that low-snow years can cost the winter sports economy $1 billion and thousands of jobs. Burakowski said there could also be other factors in play, such as the recession in 2008, which might have kept people home.
"The New Hampshire ski industry will weather this, especially at the high elevations," Burakowski said. "We have some tall mountains in the Northeast U.S., and a lot of them are in New Hampshire, so our higher elevation resorts, more northerly resorts, are going to do OK."
The National Ski Areas Association released a statement, saying in part, "Snow is important to our success, but so are the many efforts that ski areas have taken to adapt to a changing climate and improve their resiliency for the future."
Burakowski said resorts should diversify and offer more summer and fall activities as the climate changes.