World leaders are worried that a massive blizzard could derail their opportunity to talk about solutions to global warming at a major economic conference in Switzerland.
Snowflakes are canvassing Davos in nearly six feet of snow. Snow kept pounding the valleys and areas surrounding the town Monday night, causing plutocrats, members of the media, and world business leaders to slip and slide on their way to various conferences at this year’s World Economic Forum.
Some participants say it’s the worst snow storm they’ve seen at the conference in years.
“I’ve been coming for eight years and this is the worst I’ve seen it,” Linda P. Fried, the dean of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told The New York Times. She dismissed critics who mock the incongruity of talking climate change during a giant snowstorm.
“It isn’t accurate, people just don’t understand, that’s not the metric” said Fried, who was late to a discussion on climate change, despite having etched out three hours for travel from her hotel to the conference hall. Journalists who were late to interviews at the conference tweeted out photos of the enormous snowbanks blocking their travels.
Davos is very beautiful. But it’s also a reporter’s nightmare. To all those thinking we are having fun, it’s very slushy & slippery. Walking through snow filled roads with TV gear is a nightmare. Crazy amounts of security. Crazy level of traffic. Running very late for interview. pic.twitter.com/c7Y8duSX5c
— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) January 22, 2018
#Davos old timers tell me we are lucky it’s snowing so much this year. And I’m thinking if the snow makes traffic jams worse and if we end up missing all the interviews we have planned then how does that fit into the lucky category. I swear Bengaluru and Mumbai traffic is better. pic.twitter.com/Gv8IEbKSNe
— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) January 22, 2018
So much snow en route to #Davos the train is down and there are avalanche warnings. 7 foot drifts roadside. pic.twitter.com/RyVcuW8bJw
— Heather Timmons (@HeathaT) January 22, 2018
Organizers are hoping the snowy conditions loosen up by the time President Donald Trump arrives on Friday to give the closing address. Things could dicey if snow continues apace, especially if the president decides to use helicopters to land in Davos.
“When Trump comes on Friday it is far from obvious whether he will be able to use a fleet of large helicopters to land in Davos,” a source close to the organizing committee told Reuters. “Large helicopters increase the risk of avalanches.”
A bulletin from the SLF Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, which calculates the possibility of avalanches, showed a broad band of the mountainous country under Level 5 avalanche danger, the highest on a 1-5 scale.
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