Inaccurate report is damaging for Scottish ski resorts – and climate research

On 7 February, the BBC reported on its website that Scotland’s ski centres were “reliant on artificial snow.” This was a reference to the fact that three of the five Scottish resorts – Glencoe, CairnGorm and the Lecht – were trialling hi-tech snowmaking gizmos called Snowfactories, with a view to making them permanent fixtures if it turns out they do what they’re supposed to (ie make enough artificial snow over a relatively small area so that limited skiing is still possible even when there is insufficient natural snow elsewhere on the mountain).