Warming Will End Snowfall In Australian Alps By 2050 - SMH

[hatrack]

AUSTRALIA'S ski slopes could be completely bare of natural winter snow by 2050 unless concerted action is taken against global warming, according to a government-commissioned report that paints a grim picture of the effects of climate change on alpine areas.

The report, Caring For Our Australian Alps Catchments, has found that the Alps, which stretch from Victoria through NSW to the ACT, face an average temperature rise of between 0.6 and 2.9 degrees by 2050, depending on how much action countries take to combat climate change.

''The effects of climate change are predicted to be the single greatest threat to the natural condition values of the Australian Alps catchments,'' the report says.

Rain, snow and other precipitation will decrease by up to 24 per cent in the next four decades, accompanied by more bushfires, more droughts, more severe storms and more rapid run-off, causing heavy erosion. Australia's major mountain range, which peaks with Mount Kosciuszko at 2228 metres, is particularly vulnerable and faces a dramatic transformation unless serious efforts are made, the study concludes.

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/bleak-future-predicted-of-alps-without-snow-20111009-1lft7.html

[ChandlerJr]

1. Unless of course Europe goes back into a decades long little ice age

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x313266

Who to believe.

[Nihil]

2. Geography fail.

(And that's without going into the climate change fail that was implied.)

[Kolesar]

3. Skiers are the natural constituency for climate protection

Nature lovers, wealthy, and need snow