News location:

Canberra Today 15°/17° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

‘End of snow in sight’ say researchers

STEADILY declining snow levels in Australia could see local skiers heading overseas for their snow fix, believe researchers from Griffith University.

The University’s Associate Professor Catherine Pickering, who has researched the effects of declining snow cover and hotter summers on the Australian Alps, says snow cover is already declining in Australia’s alpine regions due to global warming, and the trend is expected to continue.

Pickering says the average snow cover at the Snowy Mountains has dropped by 30­ per cent overall and 40 per cent in spring over the last 50 years.

She says the alpine region is one of Australia’s areas most threatened by climate change, and reliance on snow-making is not financially sustainable.

“We’ve predicted by 2020 to lose something like 60 per cent of the snow cover of the Australian Alps,” she says.

“Unfortunately because our current emissions and our current rises in temperatures are at the high end of the predictions, it’s definitely coming to us sooner and faster.

“In a few years the amount of water that ski resorts will need to make snow is going to exceed the amount of water that’s used by Canberra.”

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Share this

2 Responses to ‘End of snow in sight’ say researchers

donaitkin says: 4 September 2012 at 8:11 pm

Sounds odd to me. Where we did we have data on snow cover in the Australian Alps fifty years ago? How valid and reliable were they? How does the researcher know?

Reply
Fred Love says: 4 September 2012 at 9:27 pm

Pickering has done some heroic cherry-picking to arrive at her conclusion. Maximum snow depth at Spencers Creek shows only a slight and statistically insignificant decline since 1962, a decline which is likely to disappear under the deep snow cover of 2012. Coincidentally with her science by press release alpine resorts are likely to extend the ski season with even more snow on the way.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews