Places like the Coachella Valley are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change because they cannot shift snowbird season to cooler times of year, since those don't exist, Hopkins explained.Ĭindy Yañez, a UCR physics graduate and first author of the study, was born in the Coachella Valley, and has lived there most of her life. "Though other studies have focused on the impact that climate change will have on cold winter destinations popular for sports like skiing, this is one of the first to focus on a warm winter destination, and its impact on such a specific region," Hopkins said. However, they did find that probability of attendee exposure to extreme heat - if it continues to be held in April - could increase six-fold by end of century if climate change goes unmitigated. The researchers did not assume that increased heat will necessarily affect attendance. Similarly, heat is also projected to impact the annual Coachella music festival, which began in 1999, and attracts roughly 250,000 concertgoers. The research team found that it stands to lose up to $1.44 million annually in tourism in today's dollars with 18 percent fewer visitors at the end of the century. The Living Desert, established 50 years ago, is a nonprofit zoo visited by more than 510,000 people last year. In order to assess future effects of increased heat, the researchers analyzed two key components of the local tourism industry in addition to the winter weather: the number of visitors to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, a popular outdoor zoo, and the likelihood of extreme heat at the Coachella music festival. "In both cases we saw big declines in the number of days suitable for snowbirds, but this was much more pronounced in the scenario with no emissions reductions." "The two scenarios differed a little by mid-century, but were very different by 2100," said Francesca Hopkins, assistant professor of climate change and sustainability. The researchers modeled two different future climate scenarios - one in which heat-trapping gases are significantly reduced, resulting in slowed warming, and one in which emissions are not mitigated at all. Employment follows these patterns, with regional employment declining by 7.2 percent between April and October in 2017. Many businesses in the Palm Springs area already close due to lack of customers during the hot summer months, when daytime high temperatures average up to 108 degrees in July and August. These changes are enough to prevent many from patronizing the area's famous outdoor attractions and events such as the annual Coachella Valley Music Festival, according to the study published this week in the journal Climatic Change. However, due to climate change, the number of days above 85 degrees between November and April is projected to increase by up to 150% by the end of the century. Thousands known as "snowbirds" flock to the region annually from elsewhere in the country to escape freezing winters.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |