Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 15753 Location: Ponderosa
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:40 pm Post subject: Climate Change and the Tahoe Basin
As Tahoe backcountry skiers SHOULD know, the LTBMU is revising its management plan. Unfortunately, the plan does not address snowmobiles....but that's a topic for another thread.
The plan documents have a wealth of information about the basin. The discussion of climate change is very disturbing. Some excerpts:
Quote:
Over the last century, mean annual temperature in the Lake Tahoe Basin (LTB) has risen by about two degrees fahrenheit (Fig. D1). This trend is driven by a highly significant
increase in mean minimum (i.e., nighttime) temperatures, which have risen by four degrees F since 1910. For the first time on record, the annual average of the monthly mean minima is now above the freezing point (Fig. D1). At the beginning of the last
century, seven to eight months in a year could be expected to have average nighttime temperatures that fell below freezing. Today the average is closer to six months, and the trend is strongly downward.
At the beginning of the last century,
about 54% of precipitation fell as snow, today the average is about 34%. Streamflow data
show that peak snowmelt in the LTB is occurring 2½ weeks earlier today than at the
beginning of the 1960’s, when the record began (TERC 2008).
Snowpack measurements show a strong downward trend across northern California
over the last ½ century, with the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe experiencing
decreases of >70% in snow water equivalent in many places (Fig. D4).
More here: http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6BdkOyoCAPkATlA!/?ss=110519&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003756&navid=130100000000000&pnavid=130000000000000&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ttype=main&pname=Lake%20Tahoe%20Basin%20Mgt%20Unit-%20Planning
Above quotes are from Appendix D. _________________ Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.
Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 15753 Location: Ponderosa
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject:
JPL wrote:
Quote:
At the beginning of the last century, about 54% of precipitation fell as snow, today the average is about 34%.
Why stop at the beginning of the last century?
At the beginning of the century before last, a period known as The Little Ice Age, it's likely 100% of the precipitation fell as snow.
Quote:
...with the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe experiencing
decreases of >70% in snow water equivalent in many places
And in other, higher places, the snow water equivalent has been increasing.
So submit a comment to LTBMU and tell them not to bother planning for climate change. Makes a lot of sense to me to plan things like fire management and watershed protection based on what the climate was like in 1800.
WTF is your point? _________________ Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.
Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 15753 Location: Ponderosa
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:06 pm Post subject:
Dude, this is not a thread about man-made global warming. This thread directly concerns the future of skiing in Tahoe and the Sierra.
Interestingly, the snowfall trend is contrary to this year, where the southern sierra had a much lower snow winter than the north. Did you even notice that?
No matter how you cut it, the trend for the future (measured in a human time scale) is not good for winter recreation in the Sierra. Of course, winter recreation is currently awesome, so maybe we're faced with a downgrade to "usually very good" . We'll still have good skiing, but shorter seasons. I'm sure some folks are even happy with the trend. _________________ Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.
Yes, this is why I come here, to hear all about how the earth has been warming for the last couple of hundred years and the skiing is going to get worse and worse.
Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 15753 Location: Ponderosa
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:06 pm Post subject:
srsly, Mitch, this is way off topic?
I think a lot of tipsters would be interested in the information contained in the report _________________ Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.
People have been trying to claim global warming is of vital interest to skiers and all that blah blah blah from the start. And while it may be of interest to some, any thread that begins with the words 'climate change' or 'global warming' is going to end up with strong political overtones at best, or as major political fight at worst.
You may have heard, there's an election coming up, with one 'green' candidate and another seen as being friendly to business and industry.
Oops, silly me, of course you have, that's why you posted what you did in the first place.
Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 15753 Location: Ponderosa
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:26 pm Post subject:
I provide a link to, and some quotes from, a report by the agency responsible for overseeing one of the most popular ski destinations in the country, and it is way off topic? as I said earlier, this is not a man made global warming thread. you, JPL, may have tried to turn it into such a thread, but it seems to me that Mitch has thrown the baby out with the bath water
oh, well, the forum changes and Mitch can take it whatever direction he wants. _________________ Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.
Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 8432 Location: on your nerves....
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:28 pm Post subject:
This is the second blatantly political thread Boob started on the happy forum in the last week. My image of Boob is of this kinda milky white, fifty-something, pudgy little dork with soft hands and an even softer middle. He reads his NYT and looks down on NASCAR fans and people who ride snowmobiles.
Baaahb, this is the same line of reasoning scotsman and others tried to use many years ago, that climate change is important to skiers and thus on topic, and that it's only the skeptics who make it political. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now.
Also bullshit is your assertion that Mitch is changing his position on this: He specifically mentioned upon its creation that this is the place to "debate politics (and) global warming." Not the Happy Forum. His words are still right there in the Forum Index describing the WOT board.
Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 15753 Location: Ponderosa
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:15 pm Post subject:
JPL, it is not and never was intended to be a political discussion and I regret having not simply ignored your attempt to make it so.
there is a distinction between discussing the causes of global warming and the specific impact of climate change in popular ski areas. the only reason to delete the latter discussion from the happy forum is what X-man posted.
maybe - as a nonpoltiical matter - there is nothing we can do about climate change, but so what. it is pertinent and on-topic information. I found the information very interesting (though disturbingly so) and I'm sure others on this forum would also....if provided access to it
there is also a wealth of information in the report on other topics of interest, including wildlife populations, changes in vegetation ...and the three areas where one can car camp in the LTBMU at dispersed locations _________________ Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
All of the comments above are owned by the
poster, telemarktips.com is not responsible in any way for the
content. The views expressed by the posters are not necessarily
those of Tt.com, its management or owners. Ski safe, be happy,
rip it up, smile on your brother and sister!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
