Ski resort owners are feeling the heat of rising global temperatures on their seasonal businesses. Ski resorts are struggling to keep their seasons profitable as the number of viable winter days decreases year after year, according to a Bloomberg report.
What's happening?
Per Bloomberg, the nonprofit Climate Central has reported a decline in the number of days with temperatures at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit across the Northern Hemisphere. The nonprofit said that over the past decade, more than one-third of the regions analyzed experienced a reduction of at least one week of winter weather. This trend affected more than half of the U.S. states and the majority of European nations.
In the U.S., many Northeastern states — including New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — experienced at least 10 additional days per year with temperatures above freezing. For ski resorts, that means a decrease in viable ski days by about two weeks each year.
"On the one hand, it feels like a huge relief from the brutal winter temperatures," Climate Central's vice-president of science Kristina Dahl told Bloomberg. "On the other hand, take half a step back and think about why that day is happening, and it's kind of a nightmare."
Why are shorter ski seasons concerning?
Climate Central reports this vast increase of "lost winter days" — or days with minimum temperatures above freezing — is "primarily due to burning oil, coal, and methane gas." These dirty energy sources are detrimental to our planet, raising global temperatures and polluting the environment in alarming ways.
It's estimated that 79% of all global power comes from dirty energy sources, which suggests that "lost winter days" are more than a passing trend.
Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, Massachusetts, is one ski resort feeling the pressure, as reported by Bloomberg. The resort reported a 73% revenue drop in March 2024 alone due to an uncharacteristically warm and rainy month. Bloomberg said the loss put the resort in the red for the whole season.
"I've been here for 55 years; I've never seen a March like that," resort chairman Brian Fairbank told Bloomberg. "Climate change makes it more challenging."
But winter recreation isn't the only thing affected by warming days — the water supply is adversely impacted, too.
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Definitely 🙁 Climate Central's report found that some mountain regions are seeing water shortages due to a lack of snow. The nonprofit reports that a temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius — or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit — can shrink a mountainous region's water supply by up to 20%.
What's being done to make ski seasons longer?
Any attempts to lower rising global temperatures — including cutting reliance on dirty energy sources — is a step closer to more seasonable winter weather conditions. But, in the meantime, ski resorts need to find another solution to stay economically viable.
Bloomberg reported that some resorts have even purchased high-powered snowmaking machines that cost upward of $1 million to extend their seasons.
"You will see over the next 10 years, every ski area will have supplemental snow factories for critical trails on the mountain," Sean Hayes, owner of Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort in Middlefield, Connecticut, told Bloomberg. His resort already invested in a machine, opening their resort on Black Friday for the first time in years. In past seasons, his resort didn't open until after Christmas.
However, these snowmaking machines can adversely impact the environment. A recent study found snowmaking at Canadian ski resorts uses approximately 478,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, releasing 130,095 tons of carbon pollution. That's the equivalent of powering nearly 17,000 homes for a year.
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