Alps Are Warmest in 1,300 Years
Pastor Dale Morgan
Dec 5, 10:29 AM EST
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Alps Are Warmest in 1,300 Years*
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Europe's Alpine region is going through its
warmest period in 1,300 years, the head of an extensive climate study
said Tuesday.
"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 said.
Boehm based his comments on the results of a project conducted by a
group of European institutes between March 2003 and August 2006. Their
aim was to reconstruct the climate in the region encompassing the Rhone
Valley in France to the west, Budapest, Hungary to the east, Tuscany,
Italy to the south and Nuremberg, Germany to the north over the past
1,000 years.
Boehm said the current warm period in the Alpine region began in the
1980s, noting that a similar warming occurred in the 10th and 12th
centuries. However, the temperatures during those phases were "slightly
under the temperatures we've experienced over the past 20 years."
Humans first had an impact on the global climate in the 1950s, Boehm
said, noting that at first, the release of aerosols into the atmosphere
cooled the climate. Since the 1980s, however, greenhouse gases such as
carbon dioxide and methane have warmed it up, he said.
"It will undoubtedly get warmer in the future," Boehm said.
Sponsored by the European Union, the project sought to homogenize
climate data collected in the Alpine region over the past 250 years.
Climate reconstruction focused on seven parameters, including
temperature, sunshine periods and cloud cover. Tree rings and ice core
measurements were also taken into consideration.
The unseasonably warm weather this autumn has caused concern in
Austria's ski resorts, where slopes are still largely covered in green
grass instead of snow. Many, such as St. Anton am Arlberg, have had to
postpone the start of their skiing season and some have tried attracting
tourists with alternative programs, such as hiking.
Austrian ski resorts usually open at the end of November or early December.
Wilma Himmelfreundpointner, deputy director of the St. Anton Tourist
Office, said the resort has the capability to cover 80 percent of its
slopes with fake snow. But the current mild temperatures and sunshine
make that an impossible option at the moment, she said.
"What can you do? One can't change the weather," Himmelfreundpointer
said, adding some tourists go on day trips to nearby glaciers in order
to ski.
In some cases, organizers have had to be creative to make sure their
events take place as planned.
In Hochfilzen, Tyrol, organizers of an upcoming international race went
to the Grossglockner - Austria's highest mountain - to get snow they
needed to prepare their track.
It took about five days to truck between 7,000 and 8,000 cubic meters
(9,200 - 10,500 cubic yards) of snow from the Grossglockner, said
organizer Thomas Abfalter.
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