By European Area Company (ESA) January 19, 2023

Credit score: Incorporates modified Copernicus Sentinel knowledge (2023), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Europe has kicked off the brand new 12 months with an intense winter heatwave. The nice and cozy temperatures and lack of snowfall within the Alps and the Pyrenees has left a number of ski resorts with little or no snow. The distinction in snow cowl is seen in these Copernicus Sentinel-2 pictures captured in January 2022 in comparison with January 2023 which exhibits the Flims, Laax, and Falera ski resorts in Switzerland.

In accordance with the World Meteorological Group, a high-pressure zone over the Mediterranean area and an Atlantic low-pressure system induced a powerful southwest flux that introduced heat air from northwest Africa to the center latitudes. The air was additional warmed when passing the North Atlantic owing to higher-than-normal sea floor temperatures.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite tv for pc pictures captured in January 2022 present snowy Swiss Alps. Credit score: Incorporates modified Copernicus Sentinel knowledge (2023), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

All this precipitated record-breaking warmth on New 12 months’s Eve and New 12 months’s Day with temperatures above 20°C noticed in lots of European international locations. The unexpectedly heat climate comes after excruciatingly sizzling climate in 2022 which noticed the most well liked summer season on report for Europe, in line with the most recent Copernicus Local weather Change Report revealed a number of days in the past.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite tv for pc pictures captured in January 2023 exhibits a scarcity of snow on the Swiss Alps. Credit score: Incorporates modified Copernicus Sentinel knowledge (2023), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Within the 2023 satellite tv for pc picture, snow is extra prone to be discovered on the peaks above 2000 m, whereas the ski slopes beneath this altitude have needed to depend on synthetic snow this season. Synthetic ski slopes could be seen as skinny, white strips within the backside of the 2023 picture.

Copernicus Sentinel–2 is a two-satellite mission. Every satellite tv for pc carries a high-resolution digicam that pictures Earth’s floor in 13 spectral bands. Collectively they cowl all Earth’s land surfaces, massive islands, inland, and coastal waters each 5 days on the equator.

The post Snowless Ski Slopes Captured From Area – Lack of Snowfall in Alps and Pyrenees first appeared on Raw News.