Alpine Resorts Deploy Snowmaking Technology to Safeguard Future Amid Warming Winters

Australia's beloved alpine regions are facing an increasingly unpredictable future, with natural snowfall becoming less reliable. However, a crucial technological solution — advanced snowmaking — is emerging as the industry's lifeline, ensuring ski seasons can continue even as climate patterns shift.

The transformation at Tasmania's Ben Lomond resort offers a compelling example. Just five years ago, the resort's ski lifts operated for a mere 17 days annually. By 2023, this figure soared to 60 days, and last year, an impressive 104 days. This dramatic turnaround, according to Ben Mock, the resort's managing director who acquired the business in 2021, is entirely attributable to strategic investment in snow machines.

"When we started to make snow, it turned the business around massively," Mr. Mock stated, highlighting a 280 percent increase in sales in the first year of snowmaking, followed by another 150 percent growth. The resort has invested nearly $1 million in six state-of-the-art snow guns, which Mr. Mock describes as essential for viability. "It gives us a guaranteed product on the ground. Snowmaking is an insurance policy for not only us, but all ski resorts."

The Critical Role of Man-Made Snow

The reliance on man-made snow became particularly evident in late June this year, during one of the worst starts to the snow season on record. Early snow cameras revealed a bleak outlook across many Australian ski fields, including Victoria's Mount Buller and New South Wales' Thredbo and Perisher. Visitors often found themselves navigating thin strips of machine-made snow on main runs.

Spirits lifted considerably with a welcome snow dump during the first weekend of July, transforming the landscape back into a winter wonderland. Barney Davis, a veteran who has spent nearly 50 years working at Perisher, reflected on the challenging start. "We were doing it tough, we had a bit of man-made [snow] and people were still playing and learning and being out on all these snow patches," he recalled. "Then along comes this snow and people have come from far and wide and it's terrific." Mr. Davis noted that early winter conditions have always been unpredictable, with many seasons seeing significant snowfall only arriving in July.

Declining Natural Snowfall Trends

While Australia's snow season is notoriously difficult to forecast year-to-year, long-term data points to a clear trend of declining natural snow depth. The latest State of the Climate report indicates a reduction in snow depth, snow cover, and the number of snow days in alpine regions since the late 1950s.

Further research published in 2024 by the Australian Mountain Research Facility and ANU, commissioned by the climate advocacy group Protect our Winters, found that snow cover between 1954 and 2012 had decreased by 30 percent. The report also highlighted a contraction of the ski season length by almost 30 percent across most Australian alpine resorts. Although natural variations will still lead to occasional good seasons, consistent deep snow cover is becoming increasingly rare.

Snowy Hydro, which collects snow depth data at three Kosciuszko National Park locations since 1954 to forecast water inflows, provides further evidence. Its Spencers Creek site, near Thredbo and Perisher, recorded a healthy 220cm of snow depth last year. However, 2023 and 2024 have seen some of the shortest seasons and lowest snow depths in over 15 years, with depths at zero until July 7 this year when 35cm was finally recorded.

Climate Change Exacerbates Challenges

Experts affirm that climate change is undeniably influencing snowfall patterns. Stuart Browning, chief climate scientist at Risk Frontiers, an organisation specialising in climate risk analysis, explains: "Late starts to the season and poor seasons have been happening as long as we've had snow up there, but all of the evidence points to climate change giving us more warm precipitation events."

This leads to shorter seasons, with later starts and, more recently, earlier finishes. "It can only be a couple of degrees difference between good snowfall or rain and so as temperatures warm, we're getting more of our storms come through and we're getting rain instead of snow," Mr. Browning noted.

The Bureau of Meteorology declared an El Niño this year, which typically correlates with lower peak snow depths. However, the overarching decline in Australia's snow depth aligns more closely with global warming trends. The average global temperature is now 1.2 to 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels and is projected to surpass 1.5C within the next decade. This year's early ski season coincided with the warmest June in 59 years for some alpine regions.

ANU alpine researcher Ruby Ollson elaborated on the broader implications: "We're seeing increased temperatures, reduced snow, snow melt more quickly and as a result, we're seeing ski season lengths contract." She also warned that warmer temperatures threaten the very ability to make snow, which requires specific temperatures and humidity. "What we're seeing with climate change is we're having warmer nights and we're seeing those conditions reduce."

Higher elevation resorts like Thredbo and Perisher are somewhat less affected than lower-lying ones, as temperatures naturally drop with altitude, increasing the likelihood of snow over rain. Looking ahead, Mr. Browning suggests that under a best-case scenario, where global warming is capped below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, resorts could still expect around 60 days of snowmaking each winter, maintaining viability through to the end of the century. However, a worst-case scenario could see this drop to only 20 to 30 days per winter by century's end.

Global Parallels

Similar challenges are being observed globally. Earlier this year, NASA reported a significant 'snow drought' in the western United States, with snow blanketing the lowest area since satellite records began in 2001. Despite average or above-average precipitation, much of it fell as rain due to warmer temperatures. Some lower-elevation resorts in Europe have even become unviable, leading to closures.

In contrast, Japan continues to experience consistent, heavy snowfall. New Zealand also saw a slower start to its season, delaying resort openings, but here too, snowmaking proved crucial. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson, whose organisation operates several resorts, emphasised that snowmaking is "critical" for initiating the season, without which they would struggle to operate.