2010 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

".... Let us shut our eyes,
And talk about the weather." W.S. Gilbert

The January thaw has arrived in Vancouver with a vengance. The mogul hill is closed and melting at a rate of about 1 cm. per day. It is warm and raining in the city.

In my part of the world, it is expected that the temperature will approach 5 C over the next couple of weeks, and the El Nino warming for this year will be serious over the continent.

Meanwhile, Europe is freezing under a nice blanket of snow. Tsk, tsk.

I think the weather needs its own thread just now, apart from the global warming discussion.

[Meg 368]

but . . . but . . . Vancouver needs lots of snow for this!

I'm looking forward to the Olympics.   It will be bad if the weather ruins them. 

[mightygoose 92]

you know this could become an issue....

[Easy Bakes 253]

they cant move the events to the east were all the snow is?

[Nick9099 2]

they have been stockpiling snow, so the mountains won't be bare at the time of the events themselves... of course the stockpiles themselves could always melt!

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

they cant move the events to the east were all the snow is?

quote>

Not within the next 30 days.  The logistics for these events take more planning than that.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Most of the events requiring snow or ice are in the mountains around Whistler, which should have lots of snow in mid-February. Events scheduled for urban areas are indoors.

The main impact could be on tourism.

[mightygoose 92]

Originally posted by: Nick9099

they have been stockpiling snow, so the mountains won't be bare at the time of the events themselves... of course the stockpiles themselves could always melt!quote>

Do they genuinely stockpile snow?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

Originally posted by: Nick9099

they have been stockpiling snow, so the mountains won't be bare at the time of the events themselves... of course the stockpiles themselves could always melt!quote>

Do they genuinely stockpile snow?

quote>

Yes, they do. It is kept under reflective tarps to keep it from melting. If the worst comes to the worst, the snow making machines will be working overtime.

[Nick9099 2]

hopefully it won't come to that. Artificial snow is nowhere near as good as the real stuff, and if it's above freezing they'll have a lot of trouble keeping it open even with the snow machines.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

We don't call the south-west coast La-La Land for nothing.

[citiesxlfan42 27]

Aww... I got "Mario and Sonic and the Olympic Winter Games"!(what a mouthfull...) and I am getting really excited for the games. It would stink if they got backed a year, or the stockpiles melted, or something like that.

[Easy Bakes 253]

We should at least be able to see most of the Hockey games.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If the worst came to the worst, the venue could be moved to someplace with snow for the alpine events. Other side of the Rockies maybe -- Calgary, for instance. They should still have the facilities from the 1988 Winter games.

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: N_O_Body

If the worst came to the worst, the venue could be moved to someplace with snow for the alpine events. Other side of the Rockies maybe -- Calgary, for instance. They should still have the facilities from the 1988 Winter games.quote>

Indeed, there must be contingency plans for stuff like this... At least I should hope that a multi-billion dollar, two week event that is dependant on below freezing temperatures has contingency plans.. 

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: beebs

Originally posted by: N_O_Body

If the worst came to the worst, the venue could be moved to someplace with snow for the alpine events. Other side of the Rockies maybe -- Calgary, for instance. They should still have the facilities from the 1988 Winter games.quote>

Indeed, there must be contingency plans for stuff like this... At least I should hope that a multi-billion dollar, two week event that is dependant on below freezing temperatures has contingency plans.. quote>

I wouldn't bet on that, actually.

[Yoman3 5]

I remember they were doing extensive work on widening the road between Vancouver and Whistler for this when I was there in 2007. Beautiful road.

[thepokemaniac 18]

My cousin lives in Vancouver, he goes to college at UBC. I'm so jealous of him that he gets to go see all the games!

[PhilsCafe 8]

The only thing that worries me is that I have finals during the games... and they therefore might distract me. I don't think the snow is gonna be a problem. Turin wasn't known for being a winter sports city. And it didn't hurt the emotions and tourism. I think Vancouver will do just fine!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: thepokemaniac

My cousin lives in Vancouver, he goes to college at UBC. I'm so jealous of him that he gets to go see all the games!quote>

Oh? Has he got tickets for all events? Hard to do since some of them run concurrently.

[Nick9099 2]

or do you mean all of the events at the UBC arena?

[your_adress_here 11]

Well, it's official, they'll be bringing in snow for the alpine events on Cypress Mountain near Vancouver.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=27124.html?cid=rsstsn

[Nick9099 2]

To think this would ever happen in Canada!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: Nick9099

To think this would ever happen in Canada!quote>

If, by that, you imply that Canada is a country of snow and ice let me reassure you. I live at a latitude much lower than the 49th parallel. The land of snow and ice, generally speaking is north of 60 degrees latitude. Most of the population lives much further south.

Vancouver gets more than 200 inches of rain annually and it hardly ever snows there. Having a winter olympics there depends on the mountains just to the east of the city. One of the nice things about Vancouver is you can enjoy almost all sports there all the time.

[diva613 0]

Originally posted by: Nick9099

To think this would ever happen in Canada!quote>

Well it does happen, for instance, one winter (I live in Ottawa) we had 482cm's of snow, this year, we had maybe 60cm's of snow... no worries if we all postpone the olympics til March when we all will be hit with massive snow, we shall be fine lol.

But in all seriousness, I cannot believe that they decided to hold in Vancouver of all places, yes they have Whistler, but even with Whistler, there is such a large problem with that, hence why it was taken off of the world cup finals for skiing back in the 90's (YES i just aged myself). The VanOC assures everyone that the olympics will still happen, so that makes me think that there is in fact a contingency plan, may have to reroute everyone to Iqualuit though lol.

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: Nick9099

To think this would ever happen in Canada!quote>

The City of Vancouver generally gets about 5 days of snow per year. Obviously the mountains get quite a bit more than that, but Canada isn't quite the frigid northern wasteland that is so commonly stereotyped to be - although this year does seem to be quite a bit warmer than average. Edmonton was in fact warmer than Florida, a few days ago.

[Nick9099 2]

Yes, I know, I'm Canadian myself. I just found it ironic considering the stereotype , especially south of the border!

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: beebs

Originally posted by: Nick9099

To think this would ever happen in Canada!quote>

The City of Vancouver generally gets about 5 days of snow per year. Obviously the mountains get quite a bit more than that, but Canada isn't quite the frigid northern wasteland that is so commonly stereotyped to be - although this year does seem to be quite a bit warmer than average. Edmonton was in fact warmer than Florida, a few days ago. quote>

Vancouver should have the same climate as Seattle correct? I dont think Seattle is know for heavy winters.

Unceaseing Rain yes but not snow.

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

Originally posted by: beebs

Originally posted by: Nick9099

To think this would ever happen in Canada!quote>

The City of Vancouver generally gets about 5 days of snow per year. Obviously the mountains get quite a bit more than that, but Canada isn't quite the frigid northern wasteland that is so commonly stereotyped to be - although this year does seem to be quite a bit warmer than average. Edmonton was in fact warmer than Florida, a few days ago. quote>

Vancouver should have the same climate as Seattle correct? I dont think Seattle is know for heavy winters.

Unceaseing Rain yes but not snow.

quote>

Yeah, they're pretty much the same. As I said though, the mountains are usually ripe for snow.. all that moisture, plus (usually) below freezing temperatures due to the altitude. Apparantly, not this year though.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Changed the subtitle. I guess this should be the thread for the Games. Today, the Torch is running about in B.C. and things are heating up.