WARMING TREND COMING

After two balmy Winter Olympics — where athletes stripped clothes off to cool down and snow had to be trucked in — Pyeongchang is bringing the winter back.

It’s been so biting cold that athletes’ skis are warping and makeup is freezing to the faces of BBC anchors (to be fair, it’s probably freezing to the faces of other people, as well). Officials have even gone as far as to postpone the women’s giant slalom, primarily due to high winds.

In contests not postponed, athletes are facing new and interesting challenges. Biathlon bullets have been blown off-target. Snowboarders, attempting to do some pretty epic tricks, have stalled by a brutal head wind before they could even catch air.

Although Pyeongchang is also close to a warm body of water — the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea — it is downwind from the frigged Asian interior, and the cold Siberian air has been funnelling in on howling winds.

Conditions are expected to improve slightly at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre and the Jeongseon Alpine Centre mid-week with milder temperatures climbing and a calming down of the winds. However, the window will be brief as the Siberian wind tunnel is expected to crank back up for the weekend.