With less than a month to go until Christmas, Santa Claus is busy preparing, but the warming climate and lack of snow in his Arctic hometown have him worried.
By this time of year, the town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland -- marketed by tourism officials since the 1980s as the "real" home of Santa Claus -- should be white and pretty.
But on a recent visit, rain poured down from a gloomy slate sky and the temperature was well above freezing, with the thermometer showing +2C.
"My reindeer can fly, so that's no problem," said the man in the red suit and long white beard, resting his weary legs after a long day of meeting excited children and adults.
But "we can see that climate change is real. And it's affecting the reindeer. It's affecting life here in the Arctic," added the man, whose employers declined to identify him by his real name.
Herders say milder and more unpredictable winters have left reindeer struggling to dig up their main food, lichen.
Snow and ice have melted and refrozen, burying it under layers of packed ice.
The Arctic is warming faster than other parts of the world due to climate change -- nearly four times as fast, according to research published by Finland-based scientists in the journal Nature in 2022.
Warming global temperatures, driven by humans burning fossil fuels, have been aggravating weather disasters such as floods and droughts worldwide in recent years.
In Finnish Lapland, after a historically warm summer, a new November temperature record was set a few weeks ago when 11.1C was measured in the town of Utsjoki, breaking the previous record of 11.0C from 1975.
Tourists flock to Rovaniemi from around the world to see its enchanting snowy landscapes and experience the Arctic cold.
With only a few hours of daylight this time of the year, many also hope to see the spectacular colors of the Northern Lights streaking across the dark skies.
Last year, the town registered a record high of more than one million overnight stays.
Visitors looking to get a glimpse of Santa can meet the man himself at different locations in Rovaniemi, including the Santa Park underground theme park and the nearby Santa Claus Village.
"It's super nice. It's like in the Christmas movies, super magical," said Maria Batista Torres from Tenerife in Spain, visiting the Santa Claus Village with her two young children.
Glittering fairy lights illuminate rooftops and trees in the Santa Claus Village, which is open all year round.
"I figured it would be much more snowy," however, said Wenguel, a visitor from the United States. "I mean, it still feels like Christmas... but I figured it would be a little bit more Santa-like."
© 2024 AFP
3 Comments
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dutch
Isn't it strange that scientists keep changing their climate models that work so well they are beyond reproach?
I'm confused because my favorite oracle keeps telling me that the "science is settled" and there exists something called "100% scientific consensus"
It turns out they know nothing.
https://knowridge.com/2024/11/oceans-cool-the-planet-more-than-we-thought-study-finds/#google_vignette
Don't worry the little rug rats, ( surely you have children, don't you?)
Santa will make his trip again this year!
virusrex
No, that is the purpose of scientific research in all fields, from astronomy to biochemistry, polishing and improving knowledge to make the conclusions more precise and better continuously.
That comes from refusing to learn what is consensus, you like to pretend it means a rock solid conclusion that will never change when in fact it just mean a common conclusion that the current scientific community of the world reach according to the evidence, this consensus improves all the time as well.
Not at all, it turns "they" don't know every single thing, but of course they are the ones that know the most about the topic.
What does this have to do with the article, the warnings are clear and should be taken into account by people that are not in denial of the reality of the planet. Pretending everything is well without any basis is not a productive attitude.
fallaffel
A model should either be 100% accurate or it's useless? If you're confused about the basics of how all science advances, the problem might not be with the scientists.