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Our News
Climate Witness: Boyan Petrov, Bulgaria
Boyan Petrov, is a zoologist from the National Natural History Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is also a mountaineer. As well as witnessing changes in the local climate since his childhood, a recent mountaineering trip to the Himalayas opened his eyes to changes taking place there.
For the 34 years since I was born, every year has become increasingly drier. The seasons have disappeared. What we see is only something like summer. The autumn is kind of mild and then suddenly winter comes, which I wouldn’t call winter. There is a slight cooling, and little snow. More like winter in the Mediterranean.
Climbing in the Himalayas
Two years ago I was on a tough expedition to K2, the second highest peak after Everest. There is a spot where glaciers merge. A Polish member of the expedition had been there 35 years ago. It turned out that the place where we were sitting and eating our sandwiches used to be 35 m higher – there was a clear mark on the rock above.
What we see happening at a much faster rate in the Alps, also happened in the Himalayas in just the last 35 years. Imagine - the height there is of over 4,000 metres and conditions are much tougher.
Children can no longer sleigh like they used to
I’ve loved sleighing since I was young. Just right next to our place there’s a very steep street. From 1977 to 1989 it was covered by snow for two months each winter. Now the snow cover lasts surprisingly short. This winter I noticed that the snow cover only stayed for a week. It melted quickly. There were abrupt warmings, abrupt coolings. Rain, snow, rain, snow. Generally, these things are typical for winter in the countries south of Bulgaria. My son will never sleigh all winter like I used to.
Scientific review
Peer review provided by Piotr Tryanowski and he states that this story is consistent with current peer reviewed literature about climate change impacts already happening today. The story is also is also consistent with anticipated or projected climate change impacts for the region.All articles are subject to scientific review by a member of the Climate Witness Science Advisory Panel.