Weather In Vancouver Threatening Olympics
February 2nd, 2010

Here come the Winter Olympics Canada! On February 12th, the 2010 Games will finally get underway in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. For the first time since 1988 when the Olympics were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is hosting the event that many believe was meant to be hosted by the Great White North. But is it?

Today, Sunny Dhillon of The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver’s unseasonably warm conditions at the moment are posing some major concerns for Olympic officials with just over a week to go before the Games begin. As Dhillon reports, not only is there a lack of snow for the alpine slopes but the indoor venues are being impacted by high levels of humidity.

As a result, organizers are trying to find ways to ensure that the outdoor events that require snow such as freestyle skiing and snowboarding go on as scheduled. In addition, the presentation of the indoor events like speedskating and curling is suffering some setbacks.

The humidity in the arenas is presenting quite a problem according to the sport manager for curling at the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Centre, Neil Houston. “When spectators come in or anybody comes in and it’s been raining outside, your jacket dries off," said Houston, noting that measures have been put in place to combat the issue.

"It's just like the environment. It evaporates up into the air and it's going to circulate and we work really hard to make sure that as it circulates, it does not come down on top of the ice surface," he explains, "One thing that people don't know because we are an indoor venue is that the outside environment can have a very positive or negative impact on the field of play.”

Who would have guessed that Canada wouldn’t be cold enough to adequately host the Winter Olympics? Vancouver, of course, is known for its mild winter weather when compared to the rest of Canada. But snowless mountains and humid sports arenas are certainly not expected features of this year’s Games.

Interestingly, the more spectators that an arena holds, the greater the risk of indoor humidity. This obviously creates a concern for the ice surface that the Olympians must compete on. Organizers are apparently working frantically to ensure that there are no interruptions to the competitions due to potentially poor indoor conditions.

Apparently, Vancouver’s upcoming weather forecasts actually calls for rain. Meteorologist Matt McDonald says that this is no surprise as Vancouver’s close proximity to the Pacific Ocean lends the city to greater humidity than other Canadians cities. Humidity was at 87 per cent in January, he reports, as compared to 66 per cent in Calgary during January of 1988.

Canada, and the rest of the world in fact, hopes that this will not affect the Games negatively in any way. Especially when members of Team Canada are competing!