In the middle mountains, this season is the third least snowy since 1961, according to Météo-France, putting ski resorts in difficulty.
Par Thibaut Deleaz
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Dhe green slopes – literally – and dozens of closed resorts: the winter holidays, underway for zones B and C, end badly for the ski industry. Low and medium altitude resorts are facing an exceptional lack of snow for the season.
“The snow cover is lacking this winter in the Pyrenees” and, in the Alps, “this month of February is one of the worst ever measured”, notes Benjamin Reuter, responsible for avalanche coordination at Météo-France.
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This Wednesday, February 22, there was only 6 centimeters of snow at the Col de Porte, a representative weather station installed at 1,325 meters in the Chartreuse massif, near Grenoble (Isère). This is the lowest level observed to date since measurements began in 1961.
Since 1is December, the average thickness of the snowpack is only 14 centimeters there, which makes this winter “the third least snowy after 1989-1990 and 1992-1993”, indicates Météo-France in its weekly update.
Temperatures too high
However, there has been precipitation in the mountains this winter. “We are not in the situation of the winters of 1912-1913 and 1963-1964 where the low snow cover in February was due to a strong deficit of precipitation”, nuance Benjamin Reuter. At the Col de Porte, it indeed rained a lot, “because the temperatures were too high”.
Seasons with a snow deficit have certainly always existed, “but they are more and more frequent in the middle mountains”. On the other hand, climatologists observe “no significant trend at high altitude”, where snow is still present. Such a lack of snow can have consequences on glaciers, preventing their regeneration and accelerating their melting.
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The impact is also economic: if the high mountain resorts can still hope to do well, those at medium altitude are seeing more and more difficult winters, calling their future into question. The few snowfalls announced for this last weekend in February will not be enough to keep our heads above water.