According to a recently published report by the National Wildlife Federation on the effects of global warming, Colorado’s ski industry has reason to worry. Published on Jan. 28 and titled “Odd-Ball Winter Weather: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for the Northern United States,” the report outlines oddball winter events across the country and states that those oddities in weather events will continue if global warming pollution continues unabated. For ski resorts in Colorado, the report predicts that winter weather will continue to become milder and shorter with snowfall inconsistencies. In fact, the report states that the extent of snow cover across the Northern Hemisphere has decreased by approximately three to nine percent since 1978, with especially rapid declines in the western U.S. At the same time, the last few decades have brought fewer seasons with extremely high snowfall levels and more seasons with extremely low snowfall totals. “The ski industry is an interesting beast,” Auden Schendler, the Aspen Ski Company’s Executive Director of Sustainability, said at a press conference Tuesday. “A lot of ski resorts run in deficit until March. One of the problems we could see is a compressed ski season as a result of global warming.” He said ski areas may be able to handle losing skier days in November and December due to a compressed season but if ski areas lose the busy March month because of receding snow levels, it could result in the closure of some ski areas. “If you lose March, you go out of business,” Schendler said. “What matters most is getting the message to Washington that business people in Colorado care about this,” Schendler said, adding the he was disappointed by the Jan. 25 announcement that Rep. John Salazar has joined a Congressional Coal Caucus, which is intended to provide a voice for coal in the U.S. House of Representatives. “I think he should write off trying to fundraise in Telluride or Aspen. These are constituencies that depend entirely upon the climate.”