"And that could be a big problem says Jonathan Belles, a meteorologist at The Weather Company and a self-described Olympic geek, because any snow that melts in the day, then freezes again at night, is no longer snow. It's ice or slush. And since no one wants to ski on ice or slush, artificial snow will be used. That's an even bigger problem."
""It's going to get a lot harder to hold these Games without any kind of serious climate action," she said. "We're going to see more warming around the world. We're going to see less-reliable snow pack. It will be a lot harder to find places where we can hold these Games. "We're actually seeing the Winter Olympic Games literally melting before our very eyes.""
Cortina d'Ampezzo faces rain chances, a severe ice warning and daytime temperatures above freezing followed by overnight chills in the 20s. Daytime melting and nighttime refreezing converts snow into ice or slush, degrading ski conditions and prompting use of artificial snow. Layering different kinds of snow increases avalanche risk and complicates event hosting. Man-made snow has grown central to recent Games, with Sochi using 80% artificial snow, Pyeongchang over 90%, and Beijing relying entirely on fake snow. Rising temperatures and less reliable snowpack from climate change threaten the ability to hold future Winter Olympics.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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