With
an icy white sheet still
blanketing much of the
Eastern United States after
an intense storm this week,
it’s hard to imagine a
future with less snow at
this time of year.
But
over time, climate change
has decreased
snowpack by as much as
20 percent per decade in
parts of the Northern
Hemisphere.
This
trend is already causing
trouble for the Winter
Olympics and Paralympics,
global events reliant on
snow to succeed. In a landmark
2024 study,
researchers found that
potential host locations are
dwindling as temperatures
warm.
Just
weeks before this year’s
Olympics-Paralympics events
kick off in Italy,
scientists published a follow-up
study analyzing how
the games can adapt. The
most effective option:
shifting when they are
held.
Disappearing
snow isn’t just affecting
Olympians. Around the world,
the warming climate is
shortening recreational ski
and snowboarding seasons,
which could have cascading
impacts for the towns that
have long relied on this
winter economy.
Winter
Tradition: For
more than a century, the
Winter Olympics have been
held almost every four years
in snowy cities across the
globe, from the first games
in Chamonix, France, to the
most recent in Beijing. The
Paralympic Games take place
in the same location shortly
afterward.
Olympic
competitions such as alpine
skiing and snowboarding are
dependent on consistent
snowpack. Rapid levels of
warming across the Northern
Hemisphere disrupt that. In
2010, Vancouver saw a
record-warm January,
partially due to the weather
phenomenon known as El Niño,
and had to drive and fly in
enough snow to fill 20 Big
Bens for snowboarding and
freestyle skiing events, The
Christian Science Monitor
reports.
Warm
weather also threatens the
quality of the snow already
on the ground, as shown at
Russia’s Sochi Olympics and
Paralympics in 2014, which
saw an uptick in injury
rates compared with the
previous games as athletes
struggled in the slush.
With
this in mind, the
International Olympic
Committee, which governs the
games, recently commissioned
a study to determine future
climate impacts. Researchers
analyzed 93 regions around
the world that have
previously hosted the
Olympic Winter and
Paralympic Games to
determine whether they’d be
“climate-reliable” by the
2050s. Under the most likely
emissions scenario, only 52
locations met the criteria
for the Olympics and just 22
for the Paralympics, given
that it is slightly later in
the season, according to
their 2024
study.
But
there are ways to adapt,
according to co-author
Daniel Scott, a climate
expert at the University of
Waterloo in Ontario. In a
follow-up study published
last week, Scott and his
colleagues found that
shifting both the Olympic
and Paralympic Games to
earlier dates could increase
the number of
climate-suitable host
countries, particularly for
the Paralympics.
As
I
reported last year,
experts have called for a
similar timing change for
the Summer Olympics to
reduce the risk of extreme
heat, which has harmed both
competitors’ and fans’
health in recent years.
It’s
a seemingly simple shift but
comes with its own set of
complexities. Moving the
Winter Olympics up a few
weeks would mean the games
are happening right after
the holiday season. Cities
may struggle to secure
pre-games housing, ensure
there’s sufficient
infrastructure or find
volunteers shortly after
Christmas.
Another
added nuisance, according to
Scott: Television rights. Broadcasters
and advertisers pay
billions and plan
years ahead for the rights
to air the Olympics, which
provides the financial
foundation for the games.
Changing the time of the
games could disrupt this
model, at least in the short
term.
Artificial
Snow Paradox: Other
experts have pointed out
that organizers must reckon
with the Olympic Games’ own
rampant emissions to secure
a future less threatened by
climate change. Cities often
raze ecosystems to build new
facilities, companies use
copious amounts of energy to
broadcast the competitions
and people travel from
around the world in
carbon-emitting planes to
spectate.
For
the Winter Games
specifically,
environmentalists are
concerned about the growing
amount of artificial snow
cities must pump out to
supplement dwindling natural
supplies. In 2022, Beijing
made Olympics history as the
first host to use artificial
snow almost exclusively to
support the games.
It
was a mammoth task. China
pulled water from key
reservoirs to help create a
wintry snowscape in a
historically dry city. But critics
said the effort
strained water supplies for
local communities, disrupted
soil and plant growth and
used large amounts of
energy.
The
2026 Olympics is in a
snowier region, the Italian
Alps. But still, the
International Olympic
Committee told
The Associated Press
it has produced more than 2
million cubic yards of
artificial snow for the
upcoming games.
Environmentalists
have pointed to the climate
feedback loop this can
create: As places pump out
more artificial snow, the
emissions from this
process—if fossil fuels are
used—feed the climate change
that will reduce future
natural snowpack.
Artificial
snow is becoming
similarly important
for recreational winter
sports as temperatures rise.
Some resorts have taken to
stockpiling snow under giant
insulating blankets to keep
it from melting during
warmer seasons, Wired
reports. But these
efforts are costly, and it
may soon become untenable
for certain regions in the
Northern Hemisphere,
including some parts of the
Northeastern U.S. such as
New York and Pennsylvania,
to save or make enough snow
for a lucrative ski
operation.
Scott
told me there will be
“winners and losers” as
winter resort towns face
global warming.
“As
some of those businesses go
out of business, the others
are there to pick up market
share, if demand stays the
same,” he said.
Though
Scott recognizes the energy
and water required to producemachine-made
snow, he believes the
sustainability of snowmaking
gets a bit of a bad rep. He
noted that up to 90 percent
of the water is returned to
the same watershed once the
snow melts, and the process
likely has a lower emissions
footprint than traveling
farther to ski elsewhere or
flying to watch the
Olympics.
Nonetheless,
winter sport
enthusiasts—professional and
amateur—will have to adapt
to changing conditions. A
survey of Olympic winter
athletes and coaches from 20
countries found 90 percent
had concerns about how
climate change will affect
the future of their sport.
“When
it comes to the Olympics,
you hope you deliver
[athletes] the best
conditions possible,” Scott
said. “These people have
trained their whole damn
lives for these things.”
More
Top Climate News
The
United States officially
withdrew from the Paris
Agreement on
Tuesday, one year after
President Donald Trump began
the process of dropping out
from the global climate
accord, Lisa
Friedman reports for The
New York Times. Trump
made the same move during
his first term, but the U.S.
rejoined under former
President Joe Biden. This
latest withdrawal means the
world’s second-largest
greenhouse gas emitter is
the only major country no
longer part of the Paris
Agreement, and reflects a
broader effort by the Trump
administration to stop
fighting climate change.
The
National Park Service
recently dismantled a
slavery exhibit at
Independence National
Historical Park in
Philadelphia
following a March executive
order from Trump directing
the agency to remove
materials that
“inappropriately disparage
Americans,” Tassanee
Vejpongsa and Graham Lee
Brewer report for The
Associated Press. Many
local residents were
outraged at the removal,
which they say is
“whitewashing history.” The
city of Philadelphia last
Thursday filed a lawsuit to
stop the permanent removal.
The Trump administration is
also pulling materials
discussing climate change
and racial inequality at
other national park sites
around the country.
A
Washington
Post analysis found
that breathing the
polluted air in Delhi is
equivalent to smoking
roughly nine cigarettes a
day. Coal power
plants, millions of vehicles
and rampant
industrialization have made
India’s capital region one
of the most polluted in the
world, particularly in the
winter. Millions of people
are harmed by this toxic
air, which can increase
cancer risk, worsen
respiratory problems and
cause reproductive issues.
“If
there were jobs back in my
village, I would go back,”
Vijay Kumar, a steel factory
worker in Delhi, told The
Post. “I’m here because I
don’t have a choice.”
Postcard
from … New York
For
this week’s installment of
“Postcards From,” ICN reader
Calli sent a photo from her
snow day at a local park in
New York City this past
weekend.
“My
roommate and I braved the
winter storm on Sunday and
trekked to our neighborhood
park in Brooklyn,” Calli
said. “It’s not as glamorous
as the famous New York City
parks—Central and
Prospect—but it was still
magical to see everything
enveloped in thick blankets
of snow. We stood for a
while and watched the
snowflakes tumble down.
Before we left, a husky
pranced by, having the best
day of her life.”
Today’s
Climate readers, we
want to feature your
photos from nature,
whether you are in a city,
suburb, forest or anywhere
in between. For us folks
trapped inside during the
coldest days of winter,
sunny photos from beach
vacations would also be
much appreciated. Please
send your photos to kiley...@insideclimatenews.org.
