China News Service, Dec. 1 — According to a report by Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po on Dec. 1, as December arrives and ski season begins, this year many ski resorts in Hokkaido, Japan, and California, U.S., have been affected by climate change with inadequate snow cover, preventing them from opening on schedule, causing distress in the industry. Los Angeles’ renowned ski resort “Snow Summit” is currently making artificial snow by pumping water from a nearby lake as a temporary solution, but with California’s drought persisting for years, the long-term outlook is not optimistic.
Last month, Hokkaido saw only 35% of its usual snowfall, marking the fifth lowest level since records began in 1961. Many ski resorts are struggling with insufficient snow and are unable to open. For example, the Kurodake Ski Area in the Daisetsuzan Rusutsu region opened on the 16th of last month but had to temporarily suspend operations just one week later due to lack of snow. Staff have been transporting snow from various parts of the mountain over recent days in an effort to create a complete ski run and resume operations as soon as possible. The Furano Ski Resort, originally scheduled to open on the 29th, may also have to postpone its opening until mid-month due to almost no snow on the mountain.
In California, a drought lasting four years is also putting pressure on ski resorts. Los Angeles’ Snow Summit currently has very little natural snow, and the resort must spend tens of millions of dollars to pump tens of thousands of gallons of water from nearby Big Bear Lake to produce artificial snow in order to operate normally.