Tomorrow, the 24th Winter Olympics, the Beijing Winter Olympics, will open as scheduled. However, did you know that in the past 23 Winter Olympic Games, only 4 of the Winter Olympic Games have not had any events postponed or cancelled due to weather reasons, while the remaining 19 Winter Olympic Games have more or less had their events postponed, postponed, or even cancelled due to the lack of relevant meteorological conditions at the time of the games. Let's take a look!
Strict meteorological requirements
Chinese like to say a word: whether this thing can be done or not depends on the time, location, and people.
Whether the Winter Olympics will succeed or not depends on the time, location, and people. "Day time" refers to the weather conditions at the Winter Olympic Games. Of all the Winter Olympics events, ice events account for about 30% and snow events account for about 70%. Ice projects have strict requirements for meteorological conditions such as ice surface temperature, indoor air temperature, humidity, and air pressure; while snow projects also have strict requirements for meteorological conditions such as visibility, snow temperature, snow volume, wind speed, and temperature.
List of Winter Olympic games
(Image source: IOC official website)
Even though the IOC has strictly screened the participating cities with reference to two core meteorological indicators when selecting the host city, namely: (1) whether the average temperature in February is below 0 °C; (2) whether the snowfall in February is greater than 30 cm. But there is another key factor that affects the hosting of the Winter Olympics – the specific weather conditions at which the Winter Olympics will be held in the city.
The "unexpected storm" in history
As the saying goes, there are unexpected storms in the sky, and today we will take stock of those "unpredictable storms" in the history of the Winter Olympics.
Schematic map of the locations of previous Winter Olympic Games
(Image source: Website of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee)
In 1924, the first Winter Olympics, Chamonix, France.
The weather conditions were ideal, only the 1500-meter speed skating due to the melting of the track by the sun was postponed this time.
1928, second Winter Olympics, St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The weather was bad during the games, with a snowstorm hitting the parading of the hockey field at the opening ceremony; the second day the snowstorm continued, delaying ice hockey, speed skating, alpine skiing, Nordic biathlon and other events; on the third day, the temperature suddenly climbed to 10°C and began to rain, causing the ice and snow to thaw, and all scheduled events were canceled; it was not normal until the fourth day.
On February 19, 1928, Canada and Switzerland played an ice hockey match
1932, Third Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, USA.
Due to the postponement of many events in the previous Winter Olympics due to weather, this Winter Olympics set up indoor competition venues for the first time. Even so, bad weather has led to delays in the men's double bobsleigh, men's quad, 10,000-meter speed skating preliminaries, and 50km cross-country skiing.
In 1936, the Fourth Winter Olympics, Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany.
The weather was ideal during the race, with only the snowmobile race postponed due to the melting of the venue.
1948, Fifth Winter Olympics, St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Just as fortunate as the last Winter Olympics: only ice hockey and 10,000-meter speed skating were postponed.
1952, Sixth Winter Olympics, Oslo, Norway.
For the first time, a committee was appointed to analyze historical climate data to determine the optimal 10 days to host the Winter Olympics. Only the 1500-meter speed skating was postponed due to snowfall.
The scene of the Nordic biathlon competition on February 19, 1952
(Image source: FPG/Getty Images)
1956, 7th Winter Olympics, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
No events have been postponed or cancelled.
1960, the Eighth Winter Olympics, Valley, USA.
High winds delayed the opening ceremony, men's and women's 1500m speed skating, and men's 5000m speed skating.
1964 Ninth Winter Olympics, Innsbruck, Austria.
This is the first Winter Olympics to have two indoor playing venues, with no matches postponed or cancelled due to weather.
1968, 10th Winter Olympics, Grenoble, France.
Warm weather during the races made many races postponed: the bobsleigh race was postponed for three days due to reduced ice on the track; the third and fourth rounds of the four-person bobsled had to be cancelled due to the thawing of the track; alpine descent was postponed by one day due to high temperatures, and the biathlon relay was postponed from morning to afternoon; and due to heavy fog, 70m ski jumping was postponed and alpine slalom was cancelled.
February 9, 1968, the scene of the alpine downhill competition
(Image source: Allsport Hulton/Archive)
1972, 11th Winter Olympics, Sapporo, Japan.
The weather was good during the event, with only two postponements: the third round of men's single bobsleigh and the biathlon were postponed by one day.
1976, XII Winter Olympics, Innsbruck, Austria.
No races have been postponed or cancelled due to weather.
1980, XIII Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, USA.
This Winter Olympics was the first to introduce artificial snow in the competition, and for the first time, official weather observations were made before and after the Winter Olympic games. No races have been postponed or cancelled due to weather.
1984, XIV Winter Olympics, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
Unlike the previous Winter Olympics, this one did not use artificial snow, but relying on natural snow proved problematic. On the first night of the race, about 40 cm of snow fell in the city and more than 100 cm of snow in the alpine arena. Over the next three days, heavy snow caused countless races to be postponed or cancelled. Alpine skiing has been cancelled consecutively, with all events postponed for at least four days; men's alpine descent has been postponed three times for a total of seven days; and speed skating, bobsleigh, bobsleigh and other competitions have also been postponed.
Opening ceremony of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo
(Image source: David Cannon/ALLSPORT)
1988, XVII Winter Olympics, Calgary, Canada.
Learning the lessons of the last Winter Olympics, this one used a lot of artificial snow and used five indoor playing fields. Unfortunately, due to high winds, many events including men's alpine descent, ski jumping, aerial skills, sledding, women's alpine skiing, and tandem bobsleigh have been postponed or postponed.
1992, XVI Winter Olympics, Albertville, France.
Even though the organizers provided a richer weather forecast service than any previous tournament, the super slalom was postponed due to heavy snowfall, and the women's bobsleigh race was postponed due to heavy fog.
1994, XVII Winter Olympics, Lillehammer, Norway.
Due to increasingly sophisticated snowmaking techniques and favorable weather conditions, there were only minor postponements: men's and women's alpine rotations, aerial skills were postponed by half an hour to ensure that the sunny conditions on the slopes met the requirements of the competition.
1998, XVIII Winter Olympics, Nagano, Japan.
During the race, extreme weather events led to the postponement or even cancellation of many events: the men's alpine descent was postponed three times; the women's alpine descent was postponed by two days; the women's super slalom was postponed by one day; the four-person bobsleigh race was cancelled; the men's Nordic biathlon was stopped halfway and resumed the next day.
On February 11, 1998, the Women's Super Slalom Awards Ceremony
(Image credit: Frank Peters/Bongarts/Getty Image)
2002, 19th Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City, USA.
There have been 3 postponements and 3 postponements due to bad weather, but no details are provided in the official report.
2006, xxx Winter Olympics, Turin, Italy.
Ski jumping, cross-country skiing, super slalom, aerial skills, Nordic biathlon and other competitions have been postponed or postponed due to high winds and heavy snow.
2010, XXI Winter Olympics, Vancouver, Canada.
February was Vancouver's warmest on record, forcing the Olympic Committee to constantly change its plans. Many competitions, including alpine skiing and men's all-around postponements, including snowmobiling, Nordic biathlon, rudderless snowmobiling, and women's snowboarding, were interrupted or postponed.
2014, XXII Winter Olympics, Sochi, Russia.
Heavy fog has delayed the biathlon men's group start twice.
2018, XXIII Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Several events such as alpine skiing and Nordic biathlon were postponed due to high winds.
PyeongChang Winter Olympics men's steeplechase qualifiers in the snowstorm
(Source: Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua)
The wind and snow do not change the Covenant of Beijing
It is not difficult to find that a large part of the success of the Winter Olympics is due to favorable weather conditions, and one of the biggest challenges is to "cope with changes in the competition schedule caused by bad weather". Despite this, no Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics has been criticized for postponing, postponing, or canceling the Games.
This is because even though the organizers of each Winter Olympics have made full preparations before the games, after all, the weather is unpredictable, and learning to interact with the changing nature is the reason for the rise of many winter sports, which is one of the values that still exist to this day.
The scene of the "Meet in Beijing" series of test matches
(Image source: Cui Jun)
The upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics is the only time since the beginning of the new century that the Winter Olympics will be held under the climate dominated by the continental monsoon, and the challenges to meteorological support are very large, but Beijing is ready. Even if the perfect "day and time" condition ratio in history is only 4/23, I believe that the Beijing Winter Olympics will definitely deliver a satisfactory answer, doing 5/24 instead of 20/24. Then, tomorrow, in the wind and snow, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics is waiting for you!
Author Affilications:Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The reproduced content represents the views of the author only
Does not represent the position of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Source: Science Compound
Edit: Herding fish