Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
World·Photos

Lack of snow, warm weather spoiling ski season in Europe

A growing number of ski resorts in Europe are struggling to provide winter sports enthusiasts with the white powder that usually blankets their slopes this time of year.

Lack of white powder affecting resorts in Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Switzerland

CBC News ·
A ski slope has hardly any snow amid winter due to unseasonably warm weather in Europe.
People ski on a slope near Schladming, Austria, on Friday. Sparse snowfall and unseasonably warm weather in much of Europe has caused headaches for ski slope operators and aficionados of alpine white this time of year. (Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

A growing number of ski resorts in Europe are struggling to provide skiers with the white powder that usually blankets their slopes this time of year.

Recent temperatures soaring above 20 C have severely disrupted operations, even forcing some resorts to temporarily close. Take a look at some of these alpine ski resorts.

Snowless ski slopes

Switzerland is warming at about twice the global average rate due in part to the heat-trapping effect of its mountains, according to a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its average temperature of around 7.4 C in 2022 was by far the warmest year since records began in 1864, MeteoSwiss said.

The Chuenisbärgli slope is pictured on Friday, on the eve of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events in the Swiss mountain resort of Adelboden.

(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

A person skies down a slope at the Adelboden resort on Friday.

(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

A small layer of artificial snow in Leysin, a resort village in the Vaud Alps in western Switzerland, is pictured on Wednesday.

(Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

In Austria

People ski on a slope near Schladming, Austria, on Friday, amid unseasonably warm weather.

People ski at a resort with sparse snowfall amid unseasonably warm weather in much of Europe.

(Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

Skiers on a slope in nearby Filzmoos, Austria, on Friday, where the forecast is a high of 7 C.

People near ski lift at a resort that has very little snow on the ground due to sparse snowfall and unseasonably warm weather in Europe during winter.

(Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

Skiers descend on a slope covered in artificial snow as grass covers the rest of the hill in Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria, on Friday.

(Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images)

Winter sports enthusiasts ski on a narrow cross-country path in Ramsau.

People ski on a narrow path of snow at a resort in Europe which is experiencing sparse snowfall and unseasonably warm weather during winter.

(Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press)

In Bosnia-Herzegovina

Melting snow is seen on a ski slope at a ski centre in Bjelašnica, near Sarajevo, on Thursday.

(Dado Ruvic /Reuters)

An aerial view shows melting snow on a ski slope at the ski centre in Bjelašnica.

(Dado Ruvic /Reuters)

Melting snow and snow machines are seen at the ski centre in Bjelašnica.

(Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Elsewhere in Europe

A view of a closed ski slope at a ski resort near Liberec, Czech Republic, on Thursday. 

A ski lift in the Czech Republic is closed because there's not enough snow due to the unseasonably warm weather in much of Europe during this winter.

(Petr David Josek/The Associated Press)

A staff member works on a slope as snow cannons operate due to lack of snow at the Peyragudes ski resort, southwestern France, on Thursday. 

(Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)

A view of the slalom slope during the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Slalom on Wednesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. 

(Millo Moravski/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)

With files from Reuters

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|