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Something Happening Here, Early Colorado Ski Jumping, Resort Reviews: Wolf Creek, E-Bike Italy, NSAA Meeting Report.
Credit: Active NorCal
Indeed, something is happening here on Earth that is auspicious and perhaps foreboding. This past week, we have seen consistent and massive snowfalls in the Sierra. We’re talking five feet plus per storm with more coming in from the “atmospheric river” in the Pacific almost weekly. Ski resorts have been closed, the National Weather Service has “highly discouraged” travel in the mountains.
Meanwhile, there are parts of the Rockies that are getting more than their share.
Back in the East, snow depth levels haven’t quite kept pace with what we’re seeing in the West. But, wait a minute, we’re looking at wind speeds on Mt. Washington, NH, that are astonishing. Here’s what is called a Hays Chart of wind speeds at the top for the month of February. There were gusts of up to 171 mph, reaching a new all-time peak for the month of February. Winds averaged 110 mph over the day on Feb. 25th with the highest 0ne-hour average of 138 mph.
And yet, in Merry England, this week has brought record warm temperatures. Hampton Water Works in Southwest London went to 20.1 C (68.8 F).
We could go on. Australia is burning up, droughts in the western Pacific. Super-typhoons, etc.
We know that weather isn’t climate. And that while this amount of snow is incredibly good news for ski resorts and the whole winter sports industry, we are looking at these extremes as likely symptoms of the greater climate change scenario unfolding across the globe. Put these incidents and others together, and it has become clearer how the climate has changed and will change, that we are entering a new era, and that we have to be aware that every action we can take to abate these changes is not only necessary but vital.
A recent report from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is explicit. The following is from a Reuters news story.
“Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals,” the U.S.-led team wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over the past 40 years.
They said confidence that human activities were raising the heat at the Earth’s surface had reached a “five-sigma” level, a statistical gauge meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance that the signal would appear if there was no warming.
The good news is that the snow sports industry and some resorts are embracing sustainable energy, creating awareness, and rallying around organizations like Protect Our Winters.
This Week
We hear a report from SeniorsSkiing.com correspondent Marc Liebman about his presentations and insights about plans to capture senior skiers at the recent NSAA winter meetings.
Our Mystery Glimpse photo this week may be a familiar ski hero to some. Can you guess who he is? Meanwhile, we reveal who our duo ski jumpers were and where they jumped.
We also have a resort review from correspondent John Nelson, on Wolf Creek, CO. From his description, it is the almost perfect senior-friendly resort.
And co-publisher Jon Weisberg writes on e-biking in Umbria and Tuscany available from our advertiser Inspired Italy. Sounds like high-summer fun.
Once again, thank you for your support. And tell your friends, there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
Last February we had a 65 degree day with heavy rain and thunde storms.