Faux snow: Man-made snow to be used in Beijing and beyond
11 7 10 6 6 PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA : The forecast for the next Winter Olympics: cold with a 100 percent chance of fake snow. In other words, a lot like the Olympics which wrap up Sunday in South Korea.
Though freezing temperatures and windy conditions punctuated the action in Pyeongchang, between 90 and 98 percent of the snow at the ski and snowboard venues was man-made at these games.climate data compiled since 1979 about winters in Bei- jing, where the games will take place four years from now, indicate the snow will be entirely man-made there.
Intertrust Technologies analyzed weather in Beijing and found there wasn’t a single winter that produced “sufficient snow” — more than 13 feet — to set down the Alpine and snowboarding runs that will be used at the Olympics. On the other hand, the overall mean temperature of 12 degrees (minus-11 Celsius) in January and 20 degrees (minus-6 Celsius) in February makes it likely there will be ideal snowmaking conditions for the games.
This has been an ongoing theme for the Olympics, and winter sports in general, as the effects of climate change directly impact the games.
“The Olympics are j ust another piece of the whole reflection of what’s going on with winter,” said Seth Wescott, the twotime Olympic snowboardcross champion, who works with an athletes’ group, Protect Our Winters . “These are not places that are known for snow. All the years I went over and raced in South Korea, we were dealing with exactly what the athletes have been dealing with this (month).”