MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A professor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at UW-Madison is urging winter enthusiasts to remain optimist as milder temperatures in Wisconsin continue to impact winter sports.
UW-Madison Professor Jonathan Martin loves winter.
“One of the attractions of living here is that there’s a threat of snow,” he said. “I’ve learned to live with 3- and 4-inch snowfalls on somewhat routine bases from, you know, 15th of December to about the end of February. But recently the winters just have not cooperated to my satisfaction.”
The past few winters in Southcentral Wisconsin have been disappointing to Professor Martin. He says the warming globe is continuing to impact Wisconsin winters.
“There’s no doubt about it, they’re getting warmer around the whole Northern hemisphere in the wintertime and we’re on the sort of southern fringe of where it snows with routine frequency. We’re going to have a change in that,” he said.
The higher temperatures are also impacting sports. For a second year in the row, the ski hill at Christmas Mountain Village will likely be delayed in opening.
“About like to be 30 degrees or less we can blow snow, 29, 30 degrees,” ski operations manager Nolan Champlin said. “The colder the better. Last year, I wish we could say it was winter, but it wasn’t a winner at all. It was a struggle. We didn’t open nearly as early as what we wanted to. We didn’t open up until January 5th, I do believe. And it was the shortest season we had.”
But Professor Martin says winter enthusiasts should still remain optimistic as the forecast is unpredictable.
“Nature can still deliver a pretty good event here and there,” he said. “And so, every single year at this time I get excited about the prospects for the next three months. And unfortunately, recently I’ve been mostly disappointed. But I hold out hope again.”
He adds, computer-based forecasting makes it a lot easier to plan ahead.
“We don’t have a crystal ball. There’s no indications that we can kind of read with some sort of certainty that here it comes at this distance from the middle of the winter. But a seven to 10 day forecast in the current computer era and the knowledge in our science is pretty darn accurate.”
Champlin says Christmas Mountain Village has historically opened their hill just before Christmas. They hope to start making snow by the end of next week, he says.
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