'It’s hard to say': French ski resort businesses unsure of future if warm weather continues

What seems abnormal in the French Alps today could well become normal in the future - Rupert Evelyn reports

Business owners at a French ski resort have spoken of their uncertainty for the future, should warm weather patterns become a regular sight in future years.

Parts of central Europe are currently experiencing an unusually warm winter, leaving some ski resorts with little to no snow during the peak tourist season.

Resorts in Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland have all suffered from the odd weather pattern, raising concerns about potential links to climate change.

Now, businesses in the French resort of Chamonix have told ITV News that they might need to adapt to the changing weather conditions.

Olivier Greber, President of Chamonix Guides, said: "It’s hard to say what will be coming.

"We’ll just have to adapt ourselves to the mountains. The mountains will just go their own way and we’ll have to find some different stuff to do."

In the absence of snow, residents in Chamonix have created an artificial ski slope for tourists to use, with the only natural slopes now standing at 2,000 metres above sea level.

However, not every business has been panicked by the warmer weather, with some arguing that it will bring new opportunities to the area.

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"It will be an opportunity during the next years because it will be the same case," said Nicolas Durochat, Director of Tourism Chamonix.

"All the resorts which offer an activity at 1,500 metres won’t have any snow in the future."

In recent days weather charts have revealed double digit temperatures for some countries in Europe, with one station in Delemont, on the French border, already hitting a record average daily temperature of 18.1 degrees Celsius on the first day of 2023.

To date, record daily temperatures have been set in Bosnia, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

The United Nations (UN) World Meteorological Organisation has long warned about the ill-effects of climate change, and said the last eight years have been the hottest on record.