How much does snowfall in the Winter Olympics affect the competition?
Based on weather data, IF experts decide whether to change the schedule
According to the Central Meteorological Observatory, it is expected that from the daytime on the 12th to the night of the 13th, there will be a round of obvious snowfall in the city.
This weekend, Hebei Province will usher in extensive snowfall, and the intensity of local snowfall in the central and northern regions may reach the magnitude of blizzard.
At present, the Winter Olympics are underway. In addition to the ice events in the Beijing area, the snow events in the Yanqing competition area of Beijing and the Chongli competition area of Hebei are all held in the wild mountains, and the events are easily affected by the weather.
In this regard, Zhao Weidong, spokesman for the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said that on the premise of respecting the laws of nature, we must ensure the normal operation of the event as much as possible, and also ensure the safety and health of athletes, staff and volunteers.
advance forecast
The probability of heavy snowfall after the beginning of spring is higher
There are three competition areas for the Beijing Winter Olympics, namely, Beijing District, Beijing Yanqing, and Hebei Zhangjiakou.
According to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, there will be snowfall in the Beijing area from the morning of the 12th to the morning of the 14th.
Specifically, it is expected that there will be sporadic light snow or light snow from the morning to the daytime on the 12th, and there will be intervals from the afternoon to the evening in the plain area.
The snowfall time in Hebei was a little earlier than that in Beijing, and it began to snow on the night of the 11th.
According to the Hebei Meteorological Bureau, on the night of February 11, the northern part of Zhangjiakou was cloudy and cloudy with light snow or sporadic light snow.
During the daytime on February 12, there was light or sporadic light snow in the areas north of Shijiazhuang and Cangzhou.
In fact, the rain and snow were "within expectation" by forecasters.
On February 5, at the 2022 Beijing News Center's special press conference on urban service guarantees, Ji Chongping, chief engineer of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, introduced that there will be weak cold air and rain and snow from around February 11 to 13.
Why does it still snow after the beginning of spring?
Meteorological expert Zhang Mingying introduced that it was still winter in early February, and it was the period when there was obvious snowfall.
"The probability of snow or even heavy snow is still very high now. Because the temperature is relatively high at the beginning and end of winter, and the water vapor content in the air is large, it is easy to produce heavy snowfall."
Snow effect
Snowfall, temperature, visibility, etc. affect the event
For the Winter Olympics snow sports, meteorological elements such as snowfall, temperature, wind speed, and visibility will have a direct impact on the personal safety of athletes, schedule arrangements, competition results, and snow work.
In addition, peripheral security work such as air medical rescue, television broadcasting, energy supply for urban operation, and transportation is also closely related to meteorological conditions.
According to forecasters, snowfall will affect the normal operation of cable cars for alpine skiing, snowmobiles and sleds.
In addition, in the alpine skiing event, the speed of the runners can reach 130 kilometers per hour, and the snowfall will reduce the visibility. If the visibility is less than 200 meters, the competition may be suspended.
Will snow affect the Winter Olympics schedule?
In this regard, Zhao Weidong, spokesman for the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said that on the premise of respecting the laws of nature, we must ensure the normal operation of the event as much as possible, and also ensure the safety and health of athletes, staff and volunteers.
Zhao Weidong said that the staff at the venue will submit the relevant meteorological data to the experts of the International Sports Federation, and they will decide whether to change the schedule.
Under normal circumstances, snowfall will not affect the race schedule.
However, in extreme weather, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee will work closely with the International Olympic Committee, the International Sports Federation, including the Olympic Broadcasting Service Company and other stakeholders to initiate the relevant procedures for changing the competition schedule in a timely manner to minimize adverse effects. Influence.
Technological breakthroughs
The first "100-meter-level, minute-level" forecast
In order to meet the needs of serving the Winter Olympics, my country's meteorological science and technology and Winter Olympics weather forecasting teams have made efforts for many years.
Chen Mingxuan, head of the National Key R&D Program "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" (Meteorology), introduced that after nearly four years of scientific and technological research, the Winter Olympics meteorological science and technology team has built a "100-meter-level" forecasting technology system for the Winter Olympics meteorology, forming a high-precision Winter Olympics weather forecast system. The weather forecast system "Ritu-Ruisi" has realized the 0-10-day "100-meter-level" grid weather forecast of the Winter Olympics mountain venues and the 0-10-day timed, fixed-point and quantitative weather forecast of key points of the Winter Olympics. , A number of technologies fill the domestic gap, and the core technology is completely independent and controllable.
Qu Xiaobo, Chief Meteorological Officer of the Winter Olympics and Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Meteorology, introduced that in order to improve the comprehensive meteorological monitoring capabilities of the Winter Olympics, with the Winter Olympics as the core, for the first time in my country's mid-latitude mountainous areas, the organization and implementation of multi-dimensional winter under complex terrain Comprehensive meteorological observation test.
It is worth noting that in the process of tackling key problems in meteorological science and technology serving the Winter Olympics, the "100-meter-level, minute-level" operational weather forecast capability has been realized for the first time.
Qu Xiaobo introduced that the previous weather forecast in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was generally at a resolution of one kilometer, and the resolution of Beijing urban areas could reach 500 meters.
The "100-meter level" indicates that the accuracy of the forecast space has been improved.
"The forecasts that people usually get are time-sensitive for half a day, a day or an hour. The minute-level means that a new forecast can be provided every 10 minutes."
Gain experience
Forecast training for 5 consecutive winters
In addition to scientific and technological support, accurate weather forecasting also requires forecasters to have a clear understanding of the local climate characteristics.
From the point of view of the predictability of mountain meteorology and atmospheric science, the best forecast at present is to re-correct and re-process the calculated forecast data through the experience of the forecaster before releasing the final forecast.
In 2017, a 52-person forecast team was formed by a team of business backbones from the central, Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Jilin and other meteorological departments.
They have conducted field forecasting training for five consecutive winters in the Beijing Division, Yanqing Division, Zhangjiakou Division and the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee Operation Command Center.
To understand the changing laws of meteorological elements in the competition area, it takes years of on-the-spot observation and forecasting.
Haituo Mountain in the Yanqing competition area has an altitude difference of more than 2,000 meters. It has obvious mountain climate characteristics and is extremely difficult to forecast.
Shi Shaoying, deputy head of the Yanqing District Meteorological Service Team of the Beijing Meteorological Center for the Winter Olympics, said, "Everyone is constantly learning about the service needs of the event and accumulating experience in forecasting changes in various meteorological elements on the track."
At the end of last year, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee held 10 international events, 3 international training weeks and 2 domestic testing activities in 8 competition venues in the three competition areas of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. Ensure the success of all competitions.
Beijing News reporter Wang Jingxi