They successfully forecast eight winds and find the most suitable "window period" for the Winter Olympics.

On February 6, the official website of the Winter Olympics released information that the alpine skiing men's downhill competition, which was scheduled to start at 11 a.m., was postponed due to the plan of a strong gust. Previously, on the morning of the 4th, the weather forecast showed that the gust of wind at the starting point of the National Alpine Ski Center could reach 8, the second training of the men's downhill was postponed by one hour, and the third training on the 5th was cancelled due to high winds. In the Winter Olympic Games, it is common for weather to delay the schedule or cancel the event. As the person in charge of the "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" project (meteorology) of the national key research and development plan, Chen Mingxuan led the team to develop a set of high-precision meteorological forecasting system, which realized the objective meteorological forecast of the "100 meters and minutes" of the Winter Olympics for the first time, providing important scientific and technological support for minimizing the impact of weather factors on the Winter Olympic Games.

The team provided meteorological support for the "Meet in Beijing" test event in February 2021

The meteorological conditions of the Yanqing Race Area, built on the mountain, are complex, which can be described as "100 meters of different days". The universal numerical weather prediction model can achieve "kilometer-level" grid weather forecasting, although it is relatively fine, but it is far from meeting the needs of the Winter Olympic event. Chen Mingxuan said frankly that before the Current Winter Olympics, the mainland's research and development level of high-precision forecasting technology for winter weather under complex terrain was weak.

Located in the Yanqing Racing Area, the National Alpine Ski Center spans 2.5 kilometers, the straight-line distance between the starting and ending points is about 2.25 kilometers, and the altitude difference is nearly 1000 meters. Alpine skiers can compete at a speed of up to 140 kilometers per hour, and encountering instantaneous strong winds will not only affect the performance of the competition, but also easily lead to injuries due to loss of body posture. The weather team must master the fine weather conditions across the entire track area in order to provide key decision-making recommendations for the selection of the best "window period" for the race.

In order to make the weather forecast more accurate in a small scale and longer-term in the time span, since 7 years ago, the meteorological support team has established a total of 441 sets of meteorological observation facilities in the Beijing Division, Zhangjiakou Division and Yanqing Division, and completely collected and analyzed the encrypted meteorological observation data of the four winters in the three divisions.

After more than 4 years, Chen Mingxuan led the scientific research team to develop high-precision numerical weather forecast models, artificial intelligence weather forecast models, etc., and completed the high-precision meteorological forecasting system "Ruitu-Ruisi" for the Winter Olympics, and realized the application of "100-meter-level, minute-level" objective meteorological forecasting and artificial intelligence forecasting technology in the meteorological service guarantee of the Winter Olympics for the first time. The minimum grid distance of the forecast reaches 67 meters, which is updated every 10 minutes on a rolling basis, and a long-range forecast of 0 to 10 days is also realized. The system data product will provide 52 full-time Winter Olympic meteorological forecast service personnel to the front for the first time, who will synthesize real-time observation data, high-precision forecast data and on-site conditions to draw forecast conclusions, providing an effective reference for dynamic event arrangements.

On the morning of the 4th, the pre-race forecast showed that the maximum wind speed of the gust at 11 o'clock at the starting point of the National Alpine Ski Center could reach 20 meters per second, and the competition referee committee decided to postpone the second official training of the men's downhill by one hour. At 12 o'clock on the same day, the wind speed decreased as scheduled, and the training proceeded normally.

Chen Mingxuan said that the construction goal of "Ruitu-Ruisi" is to improve the response and response ability of weather risks during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to the greatest extent possible through accurate meteorological forecasting, so as to achieve "one policy" or even "one policy", as well as special meteorological element forecasts such as gusts of wind and precipitation phase at specific points. For example, separate forecasts are made for the start and finish of the downhill event, the jump in the track, the vacating and other stages, covering the key points where weather conditions may affect the safety of athletes.