Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Keeping the winter in the Winter Olympics
It’s cold in Beijing. You only need to watch a few minutes of the Olympics to see athletes icy breath, and snow blowing across venues. But look a little further in the background, past all the gleaming white of the Olympic slopes, and you’ll notice a lot of brown.
That’s because it’s also dry in Beijing. The region receive less than 8 inches of average annual snowfall. The 2022 Olympics will be the first to use 100% artificial snow1, but it is hardly the outlier. Artificial snow use has been on the rise: PyeongChang 2018 used 90% and Sochi 2014 used 80%. At Vancouver 2010 they not only made snow but brought it in by helicopter and truck, and Torino 2006 turned to an Israeli kibutz with an expertise in water valves.
You can probably tell where this is going? Climate change, and its growing impact on the Winter Olympics. (And the Olympics’ impact on climate change.) The very future of the Winter Olympics may be at stake.
Twenty-one cities have hosted the Winter Games, but if warming continues at its current pace only Sapporo, Japan will still be a viable host city by the end of the century. Even if we hit the Paris Climate Accord numbers the total only goes up to eight - Salt Lake City, Lake Placid, Vancouver, Calgary, Lillehammer, Oslo, Nagano and Sapporo.
Those same climate threats also apply to winter sports in general. Squaw Valley in Lake Tahoe, home of the 1960 Games, says that by mid-century it will be too warm for snow nearly half the days in February. By some estimates, winter sports recreation as a whole could be cut in half by 2050.
The Olympics is far from the most important reason to care about climate change, but I hope after today it’s just one more reason you care about. Stay cool out there.
What You Missed Last Night
The Men’s Downhill was delayed postponed due to high winds, pushing it from late Saturday to the overnight hours a TBD future date. There were also medals on the line in Cross Country, Speed Skating, and Ski Jumping (how is this a sport?).
(Reminder: How to Watch)
What To Watch Today
The morning block has Team USA matches in CURLING! and Hockey, plus Gold Medals in Women’s Moguls and Men’s Luge.
Prime Time features a packed line-up with the conclusion of Team Figure Skating, the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Gold, and the debut of Women’s Ski Big Air. Plus of course more Team USA CURLING!
(Reminder: How to Watch)
In Other Olympic News…
Stuff NZ: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott wins historic gold for New Zealand in slopestyle
AP: COVID-19 robs Olympic curlers of beloved social culture
Photos of the Day
Artificial snow is not “fake snow”. It is real flakes of frozen water crystals. But it is made by machines not nature, hence artificial.