How Has Climate Change Affected Your Winter Sports?

COPING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE -- December 4, 2012 at 11:30 AM EDT

How Has Climate Change Affected Your Winter Sports?

A skier glides down a slope in Austria. Climate change threatens to alter winter weather patterns, which would affect beloved outdoor pastimes. Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

The winter of 2011 was so unusually warm and dry, it left some ski resorts struggling to create enough powder to sustain their season. Winter sports enthusiasts are now facing the possibility of another warm, dry winter, which means more snow machines and fewer skiers, snowboarders and outdoor skaters.

We want to hear from you -- how have the changing seasons affected your favorite winter pastimes? Are you a skier, snowboarder or ice-skater who has had to travel farther to find snow and ice? Have fewer snow days meant less time sledding? Have winter tournaments or outdoor games been cancelled or rescheduled due to unseasonably warm weather?

Or maybe you live in an area that relies on winter weather for its tourism trade. Have warmer winters meant economic hardships for your business or your town?

The PBS NewsHour is partnering with the Public Insight Network to broaden our storytelling perspective. Click here to send us your stories about how the changing climate has affected winter sports for you. If you have a photo to share to illustrate your story, please include it as well.

Contact Rebecca Jacobson if you have any questions at rjacobson@newshour.org.

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