Climate Change and the Winter Economy
Adirondack stakeholders have identified the winter economy as being vulnerable to climate change. The Adirondack region derives cultural and economic signifcance from the changing seasons.
- The area has hosted two winter Olympics and is known as a mecca for winter sports ranging from downhill skiing to bobsled and luge.
- Snowmobile trails traverse much of the park, and in some communities snowmobile tourism generates economic activity that allows residents to feel that they live in year-round communities.
- Tourism is a key industry in the region, and it is highly seasonal, with quiet shoulder seasons in the late fall and early spring.
- Fall foliage fuels tourism in the fall, a time that otherwise might be quiet.
- Maple sugar production is heavily dependent on the right weather conditions.
- Cultural activities such as winter carnivals and ice fishing festivals celebrate cold Adirondack winters.
These are all vulnerable to a changing climate.
To help answer the questions of how the downhill ski industry might be affected by climate change, CARA researcher Katie Detweiler modeled the length of the Adirondack downhill ski season under two different climate models. The analysis concludes that the downhill ski season in the Adirondacks is projected to be reduced by two to four weeks by 2025 and 1 to 2 months by 2090.
As part of the New England Regional Assessment, Barrett Rock and Shannon Spencer produced a case study on the maple sugar industry. The case study charts the decrease in maple sugar production in the northeastern United States, including Northern New York, over the past few decades and the industry’s shift to Canada, examines the weather conditions needed for optimal sap production, and looks at other potential industry risks from climate change, such as ice storm damage. Ultimately, however, the case study points out that specific weather variables may be irrelevant to the regional future of the maple sugar industry, since models of future forest cover predict that sugar maple (Acer saccharum) will no longer survive in the region.
Activities such as cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are reliant on natural snow...