Winter Sports Fans Join Global Warming Fight

With less than two weeks before the start of winter and temperatures have been above normal, leaving barely a trace of natural snow on the ground anywhere in the state.

While many people like the balmy weather, it's a distressingly familiar scenario for skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers and others who revel in the snow. Ski areas are already open, thanks to snow-making machines.

But the lack of natural snow is so familiar that a group of winter sports enthusiasts has joined forces with a major environmental group and is pushing the ski industry to play a greater role in fighting global warming.

The NRDC, researchers from the University of New Hampshire and a group known as protect our winters released a study last week outlining the financial toll that global warming poses to the skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling industries.

Snow-based recreation contributes an estimated $67 billion to the national economy and supports over 600,000 jobs, representatives from each organization said during a phone conference. It adds an estimated $846 million to New York’s economy.