It's a catastrophe I tell you, a catastrophe:
The big thrill... Christmas comes early for ski resortsHat tip Anthony for the first link about the Ice Free Arctic in 2008 Anthony's comment:
A FEW moments of stunned silence was the response from three-year-old Holly Foard-Whitelaw when she cast her eyes on snow for the first time at Thredbo yesterday morning. Then it dawned on her: where were all the presents?
The snow and the "Christmas trees" surely meant that Santa was nearby.
"She was really excited," said her mother, Caroline Foard, "but then when we told her [it wasn't Christmas] she was still pretty excited to pick it up and throw it around, and make snowballs � it's a bit of a novelty."
Holly has a heart condition and has had three bypass operations already. Her parents will have to "wait and see how she goes" with the cold weather and high altitudes.
"She's a pretty special little girl," Ms Foard said. "She's a little trouper."
The first snow of the season fell on NSW yesterday, the first time in 13 years ski resorts had experienced snow in April. Charlotte Pass recorded more than 25 centimetres by early yesterday evening.
A spokesman for Charlotte Pass Ski Resort, Joshua Elliott, said people there were expecting bigger snowfalls before the season compared with last year, and hoping for an earlier season. "We're definitely gearing up for a bumper season this year," he said. "There's some serious snow up there at the moment."
The Roads and Traffic Authority closed Kosciuszko Road between Perisher and Charlotte Pass yesterday and chains were required for many other roads. While the Bureau of Meteorology said it was too early to tell exactly what the ski season would hold, forecaster Michael Logan did say it was "quite early to be having such cold, snowy conditions down there".
Bad news from NSIDC
Last year we had the forecast from NSIDC�s Dr. Mark Serreze of an �ice free north pole�. As we know, that didn�t even come close to being true. Summer 2008 had more arctic ice than summer 2007, and summer 2007 was not �ice free� by any measure.
