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UHI research warns of snow-free 'black Christmases'

21.12.2011

By 2050 more snow-free ‘black Christmases’ are likely to affect Rovaniemi, capital of the Finnish Lapland and official hometown of Santa Claus, a study led by the Centre for Mountain Studies - University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) says. The case study was conducted in the context of the Clim-ATIC Project, funded by the European Union Northern Periphery Programme. Clive Bowman, a research fellow at the Center for Mountain Studies, warned that “winters with little snow will become more common in the future” but “there will still be winters with large amounts of snow, and the variation between years will increase". This scenario represents the trend for Northern Europe, where the disrupting effects of climate change will outweigh the potential advantages (i.e. decrease in the demand for heating energy, increase in crop yields and forest growth). More information is available on Clim-ATIC website.