An unusually warm winter in Europe has led to the closure of half of the ski slopes and forced the cancellation of winter sports competitions.
While some tourists were quick to adapt to the winter heat wave (plus 15 degrees Celsius instead of the usual minus 5)- renting bikes instead of skis, ordering cold beer instead of hot mulled wine - many locals struggled to suppress a creeping feeling that this could be the beginning of the end of life as they know it.
Within the next seven to 17 years, skiing will become impossible in the medium-altitude mountains, and the snow cover will inexorably decrease in the highest parts of the mountain ranges, said Magali Reghezza-Zitt, a French geographer.
By some estimates, by the end of the century, snow may have declined between 30 percent and 70 percent in the Alps, washingtonpost.com wrote.
Many European resorts have treated the lack of snow in recent weeks as an existential crisis. Almost half a million permanent or seasonal jobs depend on it in France, which shares the Alps with seven other countries that rely on the mountains for revenue.
In the Alps, climate activists warn that the more frequent use of snow cannons will only aggravate drought.
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