The ski resorts of the Pyrenees have postponed the opening of the ski season, due of course, to the absence of snow.
Whilst many of the stations are very well equipped with snow canons, the temperature has to drop below a certain level before they can function efficiently.
The main resorts hope to open in time for the beginning of the school holidays.
According to www.skirebel.com, a study by Spain’s High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in to the future of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, including Andorra, warns that average temperatures will rise by at least 2.8ºC by 2100 in a best case scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions are low, and by around 4ºC in the worst-case, high-emissions scenario. At the same time, the amount of rain and snow fall is expected to plunge by between 10.7 percent and 14.8 percent per year.
The researchers predict that this will mean much less precipitation and a far shorter snow season, if there is one at all.
The study is based on six regional climate models that were able to accurately estimate climatic conditions between 1960 and 1990 in the Pyrenees.
