Death of the Ski Season? by Jared Feldman

Question

Is global warming affecting the ski season in the United States?


Locations

Picked four common areas to ski across the United States.

From west to east:

  • Tahoe Donner Ski Area, CA
  • Aspen Mountain, CO
  • Cascade Mountain, WI
  • Stowe Mountain, VT

Data Collection

All data used in this project was collected from Wunderground.com's Historical Weather information site.

  • Past 10 ski seasons worth of daily weather information.
  • 15,079 days.
  • 3,776 days from each of four locations.
  • 44 comma separated value text files.
  • 346,817 individual pieces of information.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/

Date Max Temp (F) Mean Temp (F) Min Temp (F) Precipitation (in) Events
2004-1-1 37 29 21 0.00 Snow
2004-1-2 30 26 21 0.27 Fog-Snow
2004-1-3 26 20 15 0.36 Fog-Snow
2004-1-4 15 5 -5 0.00 Snow
2004-1-5 12 0 -11 0.00
2004-1-6 19 5 -9 0.00
2004-1-7 33 26 18 0.00 Snow
2004-1-8 35 26 15 0.00 Snow
2004-1-9 35 24 12 0.00
2004-1-10 37 24 10 0.00

Monthly Average Temperatures

Colored sections of line indicate ski season.

Tahoe Donner Ski Area, CA

Aspen Mountain, CO

Cascade Mountain, WI

Stowe Mountain, VT

All Four


Monthly Snow Accumulations

Tahoe Donner Ski Area, CA

Aspen Mountain, CO

Cascade Mountain, WI

Stowe Mountain, VT

All Four


Season Length

Tahoe Donner Ski Area, CA

Aspen Mountain, CO

Cascade Mountain, WI

Stowe Mountain, VT

All Four


Conclusion

Historical data over the past 10 years has shown no significant decline in the length of the ski season as a result of global warming in the United States.


Credits