After a Snowless Christmas in much of Canadathe winter sports season was drastically reduced, a sign that the climate change alters the traditions of the inhabitants of this country accustomed to the cold.
Entered January, in the Ignace-Bourget Park in Montreal, the hockey fields are not installed. Instead, workers take advantage of a day with subzero temperatures to apply a thin layer of water on top of the ice in construction.
Climate change in Canada affects winter sports
“I’ve been working in the city of Montreal for 20 years, and it’s really exceptional to see such a late opening of skating venues,” he told AFP Martin Letendredressed in winter uniform.
He and his team water the ice day and night to maintain outdoor skating rinks in the city.. But, almost a month after the end of the year holidays, most of the 250 natural sites destined for this sport They remain closed to the public.
“Under normal conditions, we try to open before Christmas, on December 21 or 22. But this year it will be later,” lamented Letendre.
What has to happen for there to be ice rinks
The teaErmometer must drop below -4º Celsius during the day “for three consecutive days” to have a layer of ice 15 centimeters thick.
“This year has taken longer than usual for the cold to set in,” said Charles-Antoine Rondeau, a Montrealer who walks through Jarry Park, a large public space that normally has three skating rinks. All three are still closed.
“It’s a shame, it changes our traditions”observes this young professor.
What Canadians do without having skating rinks
Without being able to skateJuliette Rougerie goes running: “When we see this, we necessarily think that it is linked to climate change, and it is worrying, because we can already see the difference.”
Canada, that due to its geographical location and low temperatures registers faster warming Like other regions of the planet, in recent years it has been confronted with extreme weather events whose intensity and frequency are increasing.
The study that was carried out in Canada on global warming
In the capital, Ottawathe mild winter, last year, prevented for the first time the opening of theRideau Canal Skating Rinkthe largest in the world.
“We will always have winters, but we will see the skating (rink) season change radically” in the future, he explained to the AFP Mitchell Dickau of Concordia Universitywho in 2020 published a study on the impact of climate change specifically on these sports and recreation sites in Montreal.
The difference from a decade ago in Canada
In the last decade, “the Skating season lasted about 55 days. “If we managed to completely eliminate our (greenhouse gas) emissions and limit warming to two degrees, the season would be shortened by between 11 and 15 days,” he explained.
“But if we continue burning fossil fuels like this and don’t reduce our CO2 emissions, we could have seasons of only 11 days from now on to the end of the century,” added this researcher.
What needs to be done to stop climate change
According to Dicjau, 2023 is “definitely an anomaly” and constitutes an “indicator of climate change that people can relate to.”
For solve the situation, artificial ice skating rinks -less than ten so far in Montreal- are developed; but they carry a significant financial and ecological cost.
Source: Ambito
