Tale of 2 cities, version 2.

We are having another spell of mild weather with above average temperatures for December and no sign of snow at least until New Year's Eve, much to Xavi's chagrin. He forlornly says "snow?", "snowman?" each morning when he looks out the window. But it looks like we only have climate change in the USA, when you compare our weather with Milan (I guess they are well inland).

Coincidentally, the NY Times published this article today on the gloomy outlook for the $10B ski industry which employs 187K people across 38 states. Here is an excerpt from the full article "Rising Temperatures Threaten Fundamental Change for Ski Slopes" by Katherine Q. Seelye. The full article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/us/climate-change-threatens-ski-industrys-livelihood.html?hpw NEWBURY, N.H. — Helena Williams had a great day of skiing here at Mount Sunapee shortly after the resort opened at the end of November, but when she came back the next day, the temperatures had warmed and turned patches of the trails from white to brown. “It’s worrisome for the start of the season,” said Ms. Williams, 18, a member of the ski team at nearby Colby-Sawyer College. “The winter is obviously having issues deciding whether it wants to be cold or warm.” Her angst is well founded. Memories linger of last winter, when meager snowfall and unseasonably warm weather kept many skiers off the slopes. It was the fourth-warmest winter on record since 1896, forcing half the nation’s ski areas to open late and almost half to close early. Whether this winter turns out to be warm or cold, scientists say that climate change means the long-term outlook for skiers everywhere is bleak. The threat of global warming hangs over almost every resort, from Sugarloaf in Maine to Squaw Valley in California. As temperatures rise, analysts predict that scores of the nation’s ski centers, especially those at lower elevations and latitudes, will eventually vanish. Under certain warming forecasts, more than half of the 103 ski resorts in the Northeast will not be able to maintain a 100-day season by 2039, according to a study to be published next year by Daniel Scott, director of the Interdisciplinary Center on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. By then, no ski area in Connecticut or Massachusetts is likely to be economically viable, Mr. Scott said. Only 7 of 18 resorts in New Hampshire and 8 of 14 in Maine will be. New York’s 36 ski areas, most of them in the western part of the state, will have shrunk to 9.