An operator stands beside a snow-making cannon as it produces artificial snow to prepare the Uudağ ski center for the upcoming season.
Türkiye’s Uludağ, one of the country’s best-known winter tourism destinations in the northwest, is preparing to introduce artificial snow as delayed snowfall and increasingly mild winters threaten the length and reliability of the ski season.
According to the Uludağ Area Presidency’s 2026 Institutional Financial Status and Expectations Report, climate change has increasingly delayed natural snowfall in recent years, causing the winter season to open later. The shorter season has in turn led to reservation losses for hotels operating in the resort.
The report says artificial snow production is needed both to extend the winter tourism season and to ensure the continued hosting of national and international sporting events. Artificial snow is required by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) for certain competitions, making snowmaking infrastructure increasingly important for Uludağ’s ability to host races. Authorities will conduct calculations on the required capacity and costs before putting an artificial snowmaking system into operation.
The move comes as ski destinations around the world face mounting pressure from climate change, which is altering snowfall patterns and shortening traditional winter seasons. Türkiye is also expected to experience a relatively mild winter, according to climate forecasts, although regional conditions can vary considerably.
The U.K. Met Office has warned that a strengthening El Nino could contribute to exceptionally high global temperatures in 2027, potentially pushing the year above the current global temperature record set in 2024. The World Meteorological Organization has likewise forecast elevated global temperatures and significant changes in precipitation patterns.
Scientists stress, however, that El Nino will not produce identical conditions everywhere. Its regional effects depend on atmospheric circulation, ocean temperatures and other climate patterns. More fundamentally, El Nino is a temporary natural phenomenon superimposed on a much warmer baseline created by human-driven greenhouse gas emissions.
