Across Europe And Into Russia, The Wait For Winter Continues - WP

[hatrack]

EDIT

Trees are sprouting leaves in Switzerland. And low-altitude ski resorts across the Alps look more like springtime meadows. "We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years," Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, told the Associated Press in Vienna.

Boehm was one of the authors of a European Union-funded climate study that found similar warming periods in the 10th and 12th centuries. But, he said, it's warmer now, and "it will undoubtedly get warmer in the future."

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warns in a report this month "that climate change poses serious risks to the snow reliability of Alpine ski areas, and consequently to the regional economies that depend upon winter tourism."

ED. - Yeah, no shit.

Up to 80 million people visit Alpine resorts each year, and they are a key contributor to the local economies, the report says. "The Alps are particularly sensitive to climate change and recent warming there has been roughly three times the global average," the report says. On average, 90 percent of 666 medium to large Alpine ski areas now have adequate snow cover for at least 100 days a year. The remaining 10 percent are already operating under marginal conditions.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901681.html

[snogirl]

1. i don't mind mild weather...

i am over here in europe, and can't say that i really mind not paying 100's of more dollars on gas heat (pumped in from russia)...

winter will be here soon enough - count on it!

[phantom power]

2. Do you mind drought and crop failure?

Because that's what all these nice warm winters are bringing us.