All throughout the summer and fall, a skier or snowboarder looks forward to the cold weather’s arrival so the long awaited day to carve the slopes of a mountain comes faster. This year, however, it seems as if this anticipated day will come later than ever.

Snoqualmie Pass, being the closest ski and snowboard resort to Liberty High School, is the popular pick among many students. As of right now, Snoqualmie has only nine inches of snow at Summit West and 18 at the base of Alpental. The frequent rainfall doesn’t give hope of any more.

For the past 75 years, Snoqualmie’s average opening date is on December second. With the absence of snow and the warmer-than-usual temperatures, no one seems to know if the pass will even open by the end of this year.

According to the Department of Ecology, the average Pacific Northwest temperature is expected to increase by two degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2020.

With an increase in temperature, more precipitation will fall as rain as opposed to snow. This lack of snow will decrease the snowpack by nearly 30 percent by the 2020s. Researchers at the University of Washington predict that by the year 2050 there won’t be any more skiing at Snoqualmie Pass at all.

Though most snow sports athletes are on the edge of their seats, they must continue to wait for the large snowstorm they have been hoping for to come. They must leave their skis and snowboards tucked away another day and continue to look forward to the day they will get to fly down the slopes of Snoqualmie Pass.

Unless people can change their bad habits and start doing things to improve the Pacific Northwest’s environment, there will be a day where there isn’t any snow to look forward to at all.