Hopefully, this lady also enjoys walking down mountains

nonanetHopefully this lady also enjoys walking down mountains.

From the Denver Post:

A new study says a warming climate could cost the country’s winter tourism industry as much as $2 billion a season as snowpack dwindles.

The analysis — authored by a pair of doctoral students from the University of New Hampshire — concludes that rising winter temperatures since 1970 are threatening winter tourism in 38 states. The report said the difference between a good snow year and a bad snow year from 1999 to 2010 cost the industry between $810 million and $1.9 billion; 13,000 to 27,000 jobs; and 15 million skier visits.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Looking forward, the researchers estimate snow depth could decline to zero at lower elevations in the West and that the ski season in the East could shrink by as much as half in the coming decades.

Over the past 40 years, almost all of the nation’s winter resort areas have grown hotter. Heat and snow, you may remember from school, are a bad mix.

Click to embiggen.

NRDCClick to embiggen.

If you are looking for something on which to spend the $14,800 you had set aside for a new ski jacket, please allow us to suggest, instead, a mountain bike.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Hat tip: Bill McKibben.