Carlos Guajardo placeholder image
08/13/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 08/13/2021 6:01 AM
Few snowfalls and "unusual" temperatures for the time.
The
combo that caused a forgettable season
for ski resorts in Argentina.
As if it were a mockery of fate, 2020 was a year where snow
fell perhaps like never before
but the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 meant that no center could open.
This season was going to be different.
The pandemic was not an obstacle, but there was an unexpected one: the weather.
Perhaps the sign at the entrance of the Los Puquios de Mendoza Snow Park summarizes it all:
“2021 season closed. We are waiting for you in 2022 ”
. A synthesis of what happened in important centers such as Las Leñas (Mendoza), Chapelco (Neuquén), Cerro Catedral (Río Negro) and La Hoya (Chubut). Some even
had to reinvent themselves
. Walks, bicycles, excursions, trekking, walks. But skiing, nothing. Only Cerro Castor, in Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego), was saved. There was snow there. And people were able to ski.
“At all the ski centers this situation
punished us very hard
.
Although Cerro Catedral has cannons that make snow, it was not enough.
Maybe for amateurs.
But for the born skier it is very little ”,
Gastón Burlón, Secretary of Tourism of Bariloche
, told
Clarín
.
In La Hoya, a week ago, the company that manages the ski center issued a statement announcing that it was closing it.
"
We are not a mountain walk
, we are a ski center", they summarized.
Maybe they will open it on Sunday, Children's Day, so that the children can go up and enjoy the little snow that accumulated next to the brand new confectionery.
Unexpected image.
Chapelco without "a drop" of snow.
This was the same in other ski centers in the country.
“What happens is within the viability that climate change is imposing. This is a particular year where high pressure systems dominated with little wind in the region and
temperatures that are above average
. This climate is not dominated by the phenomena "El Niño" or "La Niña" and the last experience we have had with these characteristics was in 2016. There was little snow and little wind, that is to say that it was something similar, "he said. to
Clarin
Ezequiel Marcuzzi, Bachelor of Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology.
And he added: “What is certain is that the deficit of snow cover in Patagonia was
the lowest in the last 20 years
. What is also seen in satellite images. We have also had a record temperature, as in Esquel, which reached 19.9 ° in July. But the movement of the atmosphere does not affect only one province but
all of Patagonia such
as Chubut, Neuquén and Río Negro. And it reaches Mendoza. Malargüe had the lowest precipitation (of snow and rain) in July, which was also a record ”.
Chapelco, one of the most sought after centers by skiers and located in San Martín de Los Andes,
had no snow either at the top of the hills
or at the base. Las Leñas, in Mendoza, which was going to open the season on July 9,
suspended it without a date
. And towards the end of that month the situation was the same.
Marcuzzi said that “in July there was between a
55 and 80 percent precipitation deficit
compared to other years in the entire region.
This is also explained by the fact that the path followed by the cold mass began well in the south of the country and
continued north, avoiding this area
.
That is why there were very cold temperatures in central and northern Argentina and southern Brazil.
The cold air took another path due to the type of circulation that occurs this year ”.
Only for beginners.
The La Hoya Ski Center in Chubut closed due to lack of snow / Day
The specialist added that “as positive is that
in the second half of August a change is expected
and that we will have rainfall throughout the entire mountain range. In Mendoza, there will be rain and snow. As elsewhere. But that
would be like a patch
because in reality the general trend continues to be that we are going to have a deficit and temperatures above normal ”.
He estimated that “
the seasons are practically lost
.
The blow that has existed until now is difficult to recover.
But perhaps if the snowfalls that come now or at least that are expected in September become a reality, it will be possible to operate a little in the main centers.
It will be able to activate a little but evidently this blow of lack of snow was very strong to the point that some centers had to close ”.
A "lethal combo"
The situation for Marcuzzi is
"a combo"
of lack of snow and high temperatures.
"In Esquel, for example, the little that snowed melted a lot and fast," he said.
On climate change, the meteorologist said that it is characterized by having many "extremes" and that worldwide "they increased in frequency."
“It is more common for you to have extreme things now: droughts, floods, maximum and minimum temperatures.
Something is given that was not given before.
You had a significant snowfall every 50 years, now you have it every 10 or more often, "said Marcuzzi and recalled that the season last year was" abnormally cold "and with a higher than average amount of snow.
“And this year it is totally the opposite.
So it is calculated that 2022 will not be the same as this one ”, he advanced.
Cerro Castor, in Ushuaia, is the one that suffered the least from the few snowfalls and high temperatures.
In that sense, he added that next year “we will surely have normal winter temperatures.
It would be very rare for it to happen again.
Maybe we will have something similar in 4 or 5 years.
Although nothing can be assured, that is the trend.
And we will have to adapt, "he said.
In Bariloche they do not lose hope: “For this weekend we expect a significant snowfall.
Up to a meter and a half.
Maybe something we can recover.
But this was very hard for everyone.
It is that even
if
snow falls,
if afterwards the temperatures are very high it is the same as nothing
.
Luckily here in Bariloche we have other things.
And people discovered them ”, added Gastón Burlón.
Snow was absent much of this winter in several parts of Patagonia takes full sun and warmer than ever.
Chubut. Correspondent.
MG
Look also
La Hoya closes, the first "victim" of the lack of snow in Patagonia
Is Earth a horror movie?
The UN report's similarities to The Day After Tomorrow
