Interesting article about the effect of weather on ski resorts in Scotland, ~protege.
We've actually been seeing a similar situation here in Canada. In my area, the resorts in the Gatineaus and Laurentians have had several very bad years where weather has been so warm late into autumn, and the arrival of spring so early, that the window of opportunity for making snow and maintaining ski slopes has been narrowed to the point of being almost uneconomical -- pretty weird after about 30+ years of zero problems. In Ottawa, the annual Winterlude festival, which has been running for at least 25 years now, has had all kinds of events cancelled every year for the past decade. We have a 5 mile long section of canal which is turned into a skating rink each winter, but for the past 5 or so years, hot weather and rains have destroyed the canal rink so quickly that some people have been saying that it almost isn't worth bothering to make it anymore. Winterlude's dates have been changed 2 or 3 times over the years and it's now being held during the statistically coldest part of our winter (February). This winter has been quite a bit colder that past winters, but the past few days have been in the high 30s and we're supposed to have 50F and rain this week, so there you go -- so much for the coldest time of the year. Just a little aside -- I have a close friend from Netherlands who is a little over 50. When she was a kid, they could skate on the canals in winter. She says they haven't been able to do that for years as their winters have been getting increasingly warmer and ice never forms now. Up where I live, we used to see 4-6 foot snowdrifts for much of our winter, but I can't say we've had a winter like that in at least 20 years now -- not that I like lots of snow, but I'm talking "indicators".
I think that any observant person who is in tune with nature cannot help but notice many changes occurring in the environment. The northward spread of plant species that were intolerant of our temperatures in the past. The changing migration patterns of birds. The differences that we're seeing in the life cycles of insects, such as the northward spread of mosquito species that can carry malaria and other blood-borne diseases. The too rapid drying up of vernal pools used as critical breeding habitat by Wood frogs and other similar creatures. As I said, anyone who is actually "aware" of their environment is already seeing so many signs that it's like having flashing billboard signs everywhere you look. Unfortunately, I believe that so many North Americans are now so "urbanized", that they can't even "see" nature and much less know when it is changing. One has to wonder if any of them even care, so long as they can drive their SUV to the store, get their imported produce and highly processed foods, and go home to their McMansion in the burbs to vedge out in front of their entertainment centers.
Anyhow, yes, TNOT series was very well done. I'm glad that you and others enjoyed the capsule summaries for the 5 episodes.
croc |
