A striking absence of snow has left Australia’s slopes muddy and bare and the ski industry pinning hopes of a salvageable season on a late downfall to cover the alps.
Skiing businesses rely on the winter school holidays to bring hordes of families to the Australian alps to kick off the ski season.
But as students begin their holidays in Victoria and start marking off the last days before winter holidays begin in NSW this weekend, a glum would-be skier posted a clip of himself standing beneath chair lifts on a slope of dull muddy grass marked by a strip of manufactured snow.
Snow coverage in Australia is in long-term decline due to increasing temperatures caused by climate change, data from the Bureau of Meteorology shows. This year’s season is also expected to be hit by the onset of an El Nino weather pattern, declared by the Bureau of Meteorology on June 16, which causes warmer and drier conditions.
However, resort operators in NSW and Victoria insist the lacklustre start to the season is not uncommon.
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