Warm Swedish Weather Locks Lichen Out Of Reindeer Reach - Herds Will Be Years Recovering - Reuters

[hatrack]

KIRUNA, Sweden (Reuters) - The unusually balmy winter that has kept bears awake and spoiled ski holidays across Europe is taking a major toll on Sweden's indigenous Sami reindeer herders, and it may take them years to recover.

Heavy wet snows and big temperature swings have iced over swaths of Lapland, making it hard for Sami reindeer herds to dig down to the white reindeer moss that is their natural food. "In some areas the grazing is totally locked," said Niklas Labba, a Sami reindeer herder and academic.

With the Arctic expected to suffer the most extreme effects of global warming, atypically mild winters may become the norm -- and that, herders say, could endanger traditional Sami life. "We are forced to feed the reindeer and this will affect many herders economically. We have lost many hundred thousand crowns so far this winter," said Ola Rokka, a herder from the Swedish province of Norbotten.

There have been warmer winters -- 1929 was the mildest December ever for Kiruna -- but climate experts say unusually warm spells have become more frequent and more widespread. Sweden's meteorological office said the average temperature in Kiruna was minus 7 degrees Celsius (19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in December, versus a normal minus 14 degrees, with snowfall well above average. Reindeer can smell moss through as much as a meter of snow, but can easily starve if they cannot reach it.

EDIT

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2007-01-15T122248Z_01_L12775889_RTRIDST_0_LIFESTYLE-ARCTIC-REINDEER-COL.XML&archived=False

[Malmo Blue]

1. Re: Swedish Weather

I live in Southern Sweden myself; the temperatures are hovering around 10 degrees Celsius around day-time, and the flowers are starting to bloom out now. Man, if winter DOES come... It's a total disaster on its way.

Off-topic: Sorry if I haven't posted here in a while, had a million things to do.

[hatrack]

2. 10 C in Sweden in January?

Jeez Louise.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Holy Farenheit, Batman! That's 50 degrees in American temperature!

That's right, Robin, and it proves that Global Warming is hitting the American thermometer harder than the European one.

This can mean only one thing. The Penguin is behind this outrage!

Quick, Robin -- to the BatArk!

--p!