A warm and wet winter in Europe
Deserted slopes and empty ski lifts resulted in sales of ski packages in Europe slumped by 20% in December resulting in heavy discounting.
Just before Christmas Alpine ski resorts desperate to open after the warmest December on record in France. The Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise resort in Savoie used helicopters to transport 100 tonnes of snow to the slopes part of the 100,000 cubic metres of snow produced by water cannon. 120,000 people work in the French ski industry, only 40% of seasonal workers in resorts have foudn employment this year and there are reports in the French media that in some resorts staff have accepted a 30% cut in in working time and pay.
Herve Billard of the Rhone-Alpes Federation for the Protection of Nature described the use of helicopters as an ‘ecological disaster’.
Scotland, Wales and the north-west of England all had the wettest December in more than a century producing a UK mean temperature of 8C (46F).
Times on flooding: “Whether induced by climate change or not, patterns are unmistakeable” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4656657.ece …
