The once-popular ski runs of Dent-de-Vaulion in the Swiss Jura Mountains are now deserted as unusually mild weather has driven away winter sport enthusiasts and forced ski resorts to close across the country.
Abandoned pole rods of the ski lift sway in the wind. Crusty snow dots stretches of yellowed grass. Lift pylons stand alone in rocky terrain where cheerful crowds once puffed steam in frigid temperatures.
Switzerland, a major ski destination, is warming at about twice the global average rate partly because its mountains trap heat, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a report.
January was exceptionally warm, with temperatures hovering more than 2° Celsius (35.6° Fahrenheit) above the average between 1990 and 2020, said MeteoSwiss, the country’s federal office for meteorology and climatology.
“We are beating records so often that it doesn’t feel extraordinary anymore when it actually is,” said Christophe Salamin, a meteorologist at MeteoSwiss. “We haven’t heard of any cold records in Switzerland for years.”
Winter seemed to be almost over on Friday in Dent-de-Vaulion, at more than 1,400m (4,593’) above sea level.
Skies were clear and temperatures quite mild at 9C, far above the normal January level of around -1C.
Next week is expected to be even warmer, at around 11C.
Mountain Wilderness, an non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on preserving mountainous areas, said last year that 65 mechanical ski lifts were rusting away due to the absence of snow and unusually high temperatures.
The bottom of the closed Dent-de-Vaulion ski lift is seen amid a lack of snow at altitudes below 1,500m due to high winter temperatures induced by climate change, in Vaulion, Switzerland.
