Natural snow is becoming less reliable for winter sports, which has led venues to lean more on artificial. But that comes at a cost.
Highlights
- Climate variability has forced the Winter Games to be virtually 100% reliant on artificial snow.
- Human-made snow is incredibly resource-intensive, requiring massive amounts of energy and water to produce in a climate that’s getting warmer and warmer.
- The region surrounding the outdoor Olympic venues is in an extreme drought this winter, but even in normal years, it isn’t particularly suitable for snow sports.
- The average annual snowfall in Yanqing (where the Alpine slopes are) and Zhangjiakou (where many of the other events are held) is roughly 20 centimeters (7.8 inches), although higher snow years have been recorded.
- Just one of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics in the past 50 years will have a climate suitable for winter sports by the end of the century