Global warming

Austria’s Molltal glacier is the latest summer ski area to report an unscheduled closure as warm summer sunshine and high positive temperatures even above 3,000 metres altitude in the Alps melts the snow cover from glaciers. Molltal aims to operate for more than 10 months a year from mid-June to early May and was two months in to its 2019-20 ski season when forced to close as the glacial ice was exposed directly to the sunshine. It usually operates about 3km of runs in summer used by race training teams as well as recreational skiers and boarders.  However it has been forced to close for periods during August in several recent years. The same view two months ago as the…