Walkers and climbers will be usurprised by the news that Snowdon
could be without snow by 2022 according to scientists who have been
monitoring snowfall patterns on the highest mountain in England and
Wales.
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No snow on Snowdon? Best
get used
to it then....
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The BBC quotes Bangor University scientists as saying that the
mountain's snow cover has fallen by about a third in the last ten
years and if current trends continue, the winter norm could be just a
dusting of snow high up the mountain. Over the last two years, they
say, snow cover has actually been half what would have been expected
in the past.
According to an expert with the Countryside Council for Wales,
there is 'a distinct downward trend in the snow cover - not only in
the height at which the snow is occurring but also in the
season.'
The snow season is apparently getting shorter and the amount of
snow on the mountain is declining as well. None of this will be news
to winter walkers and climbers who have noticed the decline in winter
conditions over the last decade. Not only does snow appear to fall
less frequently, cold snaps seem to be shorter, so winter conditions
vanish rapidly.
For those of us unsure as to what Snowdon looks like without snow,
doh, the Countryside Council for Wales has apparently created a
series of 3D computer models illustrating the gradual retreat of the
snowline up the mountain to a point where, erm, we suspect it looks
like a snowless Snowdon. Actually we can see what they're getting at,
but it sounds slightly daft.
So there you go, if you want to tackle a classic gully on the
Trinity Face, you'd best get your skates, erm, sorry, crampons on
before the big defrost button is well and truly pressed.
Full details at news.bbc.co.uk
