Abstract

Climate change is a threat to ski resorts, the ski industry, and mountain communities that rely on ski tourism. Ski resorts may be able to mitigate some of the social and economic impacts caused by climate change with proactive adaptation strategies. Using historical weather data, future climate projections, and interviews with ski resort managers in Utah (United States), this research investigates the effects of climate change on ski resorts across the state. We examine temperature change at all resorts within the state from 1980–2018 and climate projections from 2021–2100 under different climate change scenarios (RCPs 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). We also report on semistructured interviews with resort managers to provide insights into how resort leadership perceives the impacts of climate change, is implementing adaptation strategies, and is addressing barriers to adaptation. Many resorts in Utah are warming faster than global averages, and minimum temperatures are rising faster than maximum temperatures. By the end of the century, winter (December–March) minimum daily temperatures in Utah could warm an additional 6.0°C under the RCP 8.5 scenario near northern Utah resorts and 6.6°C near southern Utah resorts. Resort managers are concerned about shorter season lengths, shifting ski seasons, less snow cover, and poorer snow quality. Many resorts are already adapting, with the most common adaptations being snowmaking and diversifying outdoor recreation offerings (particularly during the summer and shoulder seasons). Barriers to adaptation reported by managers include financial costs, adequate water availability for snowmaking, and uncertainty about climate change projections. Climate change is already impacting Utah ski resorts, but adaptation practices can reduce the negative impacts to some degree at most resorts.

Highlights

  • Many mountain communities have snow-based recreational and tourism opportunities, anchored by ski resorts, that are extremely vulnerable to climate change (Gilaberte-Burdalo et al 2014; Steiger et al 2019)

  • Lower-quality snow may have negative impacts on ski tourism; the ski resort managers we interviewed were more concerned with snow quantity and cover as opposed to quality

  • Our analysis shows a substantial decrease in the proportion of winter season days that snowmaking was viable at Utah resorts between 1980–2018; this trend is similar to results from a ski resort in New Hampshire (United States) that showed a decrease in snowmaking days (Wilson et al 2018)

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Many mountain communities have snow-based recreational and tourism opportunities, anchored by ski resorts, that are extremely vulnerable to climate change (Gilaberte-Burdalo et al 2014; Steiger et al 2019). As the climate continues to warm and the amount of precipitation occurring as snow declines, the length of the skiing and snowboarding season is expected to get shorter and more variable (Dawson and Scott 2013). This is likely to increase the reliance on snowmaking (Scott et al 2019; Steiger and Scott 2020) and make some resorts commercially unviable (Scott et al 2006; Dawson and Scott 2013). Snow quality is one of the lesser-studied characteristics of snowpack because of its high spatial and temporal variability (Mizukami and Perica 2008; Bormann et al 2013)

Objectives
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call