SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Beijing Games are the first Winter Olympics to be 100% reliant on artificial snow. While other games have used artificial snow and ice in the past, it has never been used before to cover the entire course. It gives the mountains and trails a nice, fresh look — but it creates a problem.
While looking at a picture of a nice snow-covered mountain, you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was covered with artificial or real snow. However, any athlete would tell you that there is a very big difference: the way it settles on the ground.
On Monday, U.S. skier Nina O’Brien suffered serious leg injuries after she lost control skiing on the artificial snow. The dangerous aspect of using artificial snow is that it tends to be wetter, causing it to be icier and harder than natural snow.
Almost like skiing on icy concrete, any fall could easily cause injuries, as we saw Monday. As fake snow gets compacted by constant ski runs, it can create a pipe of ice.
I also know this first hand. When I lived in West Virginia, a ski resort used artificial snow to fill in the slopes. The slopes then became mountains of ice as skis compacted the “snow.” I’m a newbie skier and I certainly took my fair share of falls. Falling on icy snow hurts! I had so many bruises on me and I honestly don’t know how I walked away without a serious injury from the severe tumbles I took.
Real snow, over time, can become icy, but as it falls from the sky onto the ground, it remains light and fluffy. This creates good conditions for hitting the trails.
This region is in an extreme drought, leading to a deficit in real snowfall. The mountain range itself isn’t known for its whiteout conditions, averaging almost 8 inches of snowfall a year. February is the third driest month of year on average and because of this, significant snow can be rare.
Another weather issue caused the men’s downhill alpine skiing to be postponed from Sunday to Monday due to strong winds of 40 mph. The wind died down for the race to go off without a hitch Monday. Wind has been a constant issue through many of the Winter Olympic Games.
History Behind Weather Disrupting Winter Olympics
1928 Olympics : St. Mortiz, Switzerland
This was the first stand-alone Winter Olympics — the first not to be conjoined with the Summer Olympics.
Fluctuating weather conditions created havoc throughout the entire Games. Starting off, a strong wind coming down the leeward side of the mountain (called the Foehn) brought warm air with it and caused events to be postponed and ended up canceling one.
Temperatures on the morning of the cross-country skiing events started off at freezing. As the Foehn wind came in, temperatures rose to the 70s. Heavy rain then poured over the ski course and ruined it.
While snow and freezing temperatures helped refreeze the course, warm air completely melted the speed-skating rink, which halted the race. Unfortunately, the race never resumed.
1956 Olympics : Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
The issue the 1956 Olympics ran into was the lack of snow on the mountains for the alpine skiing events. These mountains in Italy are normally snow-covered, but this year was an exception. To fix this, the Italian army transported snow from other nearby mountains.
1960 Olympics : Squaw Valley, United States
This was the first time artificial ice was used for ice skating, speed skating and hockey. A refrigerator plant had to be built to keep the ice from melting. This plant was then able to also heat spectators, water and melt snow.
1964 Olympics : Innsbruck, Austria
The weather leading up to the games was unfavorable for any winter event. The foehn wind brought in warm, dry air leading to temperatures rising above freezing. The area also hadn’t seen snow in weeks and any remaining snow and ice were washed away by rain.
To fix this, the Austrian army brought in 20,000 cubic meters of snow last minute to cover the ski courses and 20,000 blocks of ice.
1980 Olympics : Lake Placid, United States
This marked the first time artificial snow was used. Snow machines blew water droplets into the air to allow them to freeze.
1984 Olympics : Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Before the Games started, there was a concern with the area not having enough snow. Luckily, the first night of the Games a blizzard hit, and 15 inches of snow fell in the city with accumulations closer to a meter in mountainous sites. While the snow concern was taken care of, the strong wind following the blizzard left a different story.
Due to the strong wind, the alpine race started four days late and the men’s downhill had to be postponed three times. This race ended up being delayed for an entire week.
1988 Olympics : Calgary, Canada
Once again, strong wind disrupted several races. Ski events had to be rescheduled and the Chinook wind (a prevailing warm, westerly wind) left dirt and sand on the artificial track. Crazy, fluctuating temperatures, ranging from below zero to the 70s, also caused races to be postponed.
1998 Olympics : Nagano, Japan
A combination of snow, rain and fog plagued the city and caused several races to be postponed. Alpine skiing had to be rescheduled four different times. The bobsled race was cut down from four runs to three runs due to the weather.
2014 Olympics : Sochi, Russia
To date, this was the warmest city to host the Olympics. The climate of Sochi is a humid, subtropical climate. Believe it or not, Sochi has the same climate classification as we have here. The average high temperature in Sochi for the month of February is around 50 degrees and the average overnight temperature is 39 degrees.