Winter Warming: Climate Change’s Effects on Life in New England
Izzy Jackson
She/They
Contributor
4/16/25
Being a native Vermonter, I have noticed the changing New England winters, later and less snowfall with earlier starts to spring, all of which can be attributed to climate change. Some of you probably celebrate the decrease in cold weather, despising winter and preferring balmy falls, springs, and hot summers. However, with dwindling winters comes a plethora of issues that plague New England, including lessening access to and a decrease in tourism revenue. Climate change even affects a favorite pancake topper, maple syrup. Regardless of whether you care about shortened ski seasons or maple syrup, there are things that will impact you, and you might not even know it.
Let’s start by talking about Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Between 10-20 percent of the population of the US suffers from Lyme disease, many with lingering issues even after treatment. But what is Lyme disease? Well, it’s a nasty bacterial infection caused by ticks, who are infected by mice, and then jump on the backs of other animals (deer, moose, dogs, cats, people, whoever they can find) and infect them through bites. Lyme has a number of frightening symptoms, from nerve pain, arthritis, to even heart palpitations. The worst part is, ticks are everywhere. With warming climates, ticks have spread from warmer southern regions to northern parts of the world, like ours. warming world, tick populations can survive in warming places that were once too cold for them and surging cases of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases: “This ruggedly beautiful Northeast state (New Hampshire) had the United States’ second highest rate of Lyme disease in 2013, with a 400 percent increase in cases since 2005”With warming conditions and tick populations on the rise, it’s important to perform tick checks and dress in appropriate attire for outdoor activities, so as to avoid being another case in the growing list of Lyme-sufferers.
Speaking of the outdoors, those who are most likely to receive tick bites are the ones that are outside the most: the outdoorsy folk. Rain or shine (or snow), these people can be found hiking, snowshoeing, alpine or Nordic skiing the heck out of winter. These are the kind of people who yearn for the cold sting of wind on their face and have an impressive collection of layers in their wardrobe, and you might be one of them. As you may know, climate change is drastically affecting the way people are able to engage in winter sports and activities; from later starts to ski and ice climbing seasons, to varying degrees of terrain and snowpack conditions throughout the winter (it’s pretty hard to ski with slush, or worse, with no snow at all). Studies show that the sustained cold of winter is actually getting shorter, by about 3 weeks. Milder, shorter winters not only disrupt conditions for outdoor activities such as skiing but also make maintaining ski hills increasingly difficult. With less snow comes a demand to make snow. Snow can be made through the implementation of snow cannons, which can be an effective way to produce snow coverage when temperatures are low enough to make snow even when no natural snow is falling. However, these machines are costly both to buy and use. Snow machines use an incredible amount of energy and water to function, and cost millions every year. But without snowmaking, many ski resorts would have to close their doors for good, as has been the case with many smaller resorts without adequate funds to support themselves. Without skiing, where would New Hampshire be?
When you google “what is New Hampshire known for” the top results are outdoor activities/natural beauty, maple syrup, and granite. Being that NH is not the leader in US maple syrup production (Vermont is first, while New Hampshire ranked 7th in production in 2023), and granite, while nice for monuments, countertops, and headstones, is not particularly interesting to the general public, I would argue that outdoor activities rank first for tourism. Being that tourism has a huge economic impact on the state, saying we rely heavily on tourism is not an understatement. But with the altering state of winter, NH’s economy is in jeopardy.
With increasingly uncertain dates of the winter season’s start and end, and unreliable snow conditions in the mix, the draw for tourists declines. Without certainty for a good ski day, some people simply skip skiing altogether, waiting for conditions to be good. Studies suggest that skiers are not in fact making up days they miss due to poor weather; simply put, less people are skiing due to worsening ski conditions from climate change. Fewer “good ski days” denotes fewer ski days overall, with less money for ski resorts.
This hurts not only ski resorts, but the economy as a whole. Jobs in the ski industry employ thousands of people every season, from resort managers to slope-side restaurant staff, to ski patrol and lifties (lift workers). Without this avenue for employment, many people all over New England and New Hampshire specifically would be without winter jobs; many of them college students like you and me. Not only that, but with the cost of snowmaking on the rise as more and more resorts are driven to make their own snow (assuming temperatures even drop low enough to make snow) prices for tickets are increasing as well, making outdoor activities more exclusive and less accessible.
Climate change affects us all, in many more ways than I mentioned briefly in this article. Winter, while many people’s least favorite season, is an integral part of life in New England, and in New Hampshire specifically. Not only do changes to winter have physical, economic, and recreational impacts, it affects the culture of the place we live. So, think twice before complaining about having to shovel off your car or walk along unplowed sidewalks. Someday, you may miss the days when you could make giant snowmen or simply enjoy the look of snow coating the iced-over Pemigewasset.
So, what can you do? Well, a lot and a little, as it turns out. The individual can’t do much to impact climate change on a national (or even regional) level, but together we can do a lot and make a difference. Be considerate with your purchases: put your money where your mouth, heart (and future) is. Take an environmental, sustainability, or climate-based class. Focus on individual actions such as recycling responsibly, reducing plastic waste, and work towards a climate friendly diet. Stay up to date on climate friendly (or unfriendly) legislation and call or write to your representatives with your opinion (know more about who you’re voting for). Join clubs with sustainability in mind (the PSU sustainable craft club is super fun, but I am the president, so I’m biased). Don’t let eco anxiety overwhelm you to a debilitating state, but keep in mind the gravity of our changing world.
Some additional resources to check out are:
https://protectourwinters.org/, Oxford scholastica, https://www.nytimes.com/section/climate