Mountainous pile of wood chips helping town get a head start on winter
Summer has been excessively hot and dry this year, and what that giant pile of wood chips is protecting underneath will be essential just a couple of months from now -- if it makes it till then.
A German ski resort is experimenting with snow conservation in order to provide an area for winter athletes to train year-round.
Amid one of the hottest summers on record in Europe, one ski resort in Germany's Bavarian Alps still has snow and is hoping to use it for skiing before the coming winter.
Oberstdorf is a community nestled in the Alps in southern Germany, just north of the Austrian border. The resort has hosted several Nordic World Ski Championships and receives heavy snow during the winter, but now the resort is trying to get a head start on the next cross-country ski season by storing snow over the summer.
The snow is not being kept cool in a massive freezer or underground temperature-controlled bunker. Instead, it's being kept outdoors under a pile of wood chips.
The pile of snow before it was coated in wood chips. (Reuters)
By covering the snow in a layer of wood chips 20 inches thick, the ski resort hopes to preserve enough snow to use during the early days of the coming ski season, as well as for biathletes looking to train all year round.
“We have this snow storage to bridge the time until artificial snow is made and a cross-country ski trail is ready to be used. This takes several weeks so we bridge the time with that snow," Florian Speigl, manager of the Oberstdorf Nordic Center, told Reuters.
“The athletes who train the entire summer on skis on wheels lose the feeling for cross-country skiing,” said Speigl, adding “in order to adapt to cross-country skiing again, we have this snow storage.”
This method has been tried at ski areas elsewhere in Europe, such as in Italy and Switzerland, Reuters reported.
"Enough wood chips act like an insulator on top of the snow," explained AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz.
The experiment is similar to how a blanket can keep someone warm in cold weather, but instead, the wood chips are keeping the snow cold in warm weather.
Wood chips being layered onto the snow pile. (Reuters)
There are two main ways the wood chips can protect the snow from the sun, according to Benz.
"The first is the wood chips shield the snow from incoming solar radiation that provides energy and leads to heat. The wood chips help to absorb the sun's energy preventing the snow from melting from beneath. The second is that the wood chips create a barrier between the atmosphere and the snow. Since the wood chips are taking the brunt of the daily temperature rises and falls, the diurnal change in temperatures within the snowpack is more subdued. That can also help the snow to survive through those warm, summer months," Benz said.
The wood chips also have other benefits, Speigl explained to Reuters.
"The chips ensure there is no air exchange and they absorb any rain, which then creates a cooling effect through evaporation when the weather turns dry again," Speigl said.
For those who are a bit mystified at this snow-saving science, Benz pointed out that many people have likely seen the process play out in a slightly different manner.
"The process of using wood chips to save the snow is very similar to what happens to some of the last snow piles in the spring where dirt and debris on the snow’s surface helps those parking lot piles stick around much longer compared to a pile of clean snow," said Benz.
Drone imagery shows the snow is covered under a thick layer of wood chips. (Reuters)
Speigl estimates the snow volume will decrease by about 20% or 25%, but added that the center was still gathering evidence about the method, according to Reuters. “We are collecting experience and, in the end, we need to evaluate the situation and see how it went,” Speigl said.
It could be a challenge to keep the snow until the start of fall. According to AccuWeather's Europe fall forecast, the warmth that gripped much of the continent this summer will be slow to diminish as the autumn arrives, as will the prolonged drought that has affected many countries, including Germany.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys expects warmer-than-normal conditions to continue to be a trend across Western and Central Europe through a large portion of the fall months.
“Overall, the season will be warm, and it’s going to be a slow transition towards normal temperatures,” Roys said.
High temperatures earlier this month in Oberstdorf reached as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit before spending time in the mid-70s and low 60s. Temperatures over the next week there will range from the upper 60s to the high 70s, according to the AccuWeather forecast.
This is not the first time ski resorts have used various methods to preserve snow into the summer. Resorts have attempted to save snow by covering a large area with reflective tarps.
Magic Mountain in Vermont covered a pile of snow with a white tarp early this past spring in order to prolong the ski season. The pile of snow lasted until June 4 when it was spread out for a day of skiing.
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