Climate Change at Utah Ski Resorts: Impacts, Perceptions, and Adaptation Strategies

Utah sees over four million skier visits per season, which has substantial economic impact across the state. However, climate change may affect the operability of these ski resorts, which could also impact local businesses and communities. With warming temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns, the future of Utah\u27s ski resort industry may be uncertain. We conducted an interdisciplinary study to understand how past weather has changed at the resorts and what climate may be like in the future. We studied this using publically available weather data from PRISM, Daymet, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and climate change projection data from NA-CORDEX. We then conducted semi-structured interviews with resort managers across Utah to understand their perceptions of climate change impacts, their adaptation strategies, and barriers to adaptation. Results show that temperatures have increased significantly at all resorts from 1980 to 2017, and that there are fewer days per season where the temperature is below 23 degrees Fahrenheit, which is needed to make snow. Additionally, snowpack is becoming more variable during the skiing season. However, many resorts in Utah are already adapting to these changes. Adaptation strategies vary by resort, with larger resorts often having more capacity to adapt. While climate change will impact all Utah ski resorts in some way, the effects will be different depending on resort characteristics and their ability to adapt