Photos of abandoned ski lifts and snow-less slopes reveal the toll that rising temperatures are taking on winter resorts
Japan's average annual snow depth decreased by between 12.3% and 14.6% each decade from 1962 to 2016.
What's more, extreme winter storms that would have occurred about once every 10 years in the past are expected to become more frequent in Japan's Honshu and Hokkaido islands.
In Sapporo, the biggest city in Hokkaido, ski competitions were canceled in February and the city had to truck in snow for its annual snow festival.
The city also had to bring in snow from other locations during other similarly warm winters.
In Norway, real-estate developers created an indoor ski resort.
The facility was originally intended for use during bad winter weather and in summer months. But the warmer winter has led people to visit it during the regular ski season.
Temperatures in some areas of northeastern Europe were up to 6 degrees Celsius above the average for the month of January from 1981 to 2010, according to Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
"Skiing? No one today can guarantee it," Gillaizeau told Reuters.
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