Comments on: Olympic Snow #Sochi2014

By: Eric Lund

Eric Lund — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:01:38 +0000

Sochi (the Black Sea resort town) wouldn’t be the first Winter Olympic host city to be unfamiliar with snow: Vancouver, the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics, also rarely gets snow (although it’s not quite as warm as Sochi). They, too, went into the surrounding mountains (alpine skiing at Whistler, IIRC) for snow events. From what I’ve been hearing from my mother, who lives about 200 km south, Vancouver would have had some worries about snow this year. Cascadia has been getting much less snow than average this winter–it’s not as bad as the Sierras (which include another previous Winter Olympics venue, Squaw Valley), but snowpack in the Cascades and Olympics (she can see the latter from her condo on a clear day, of which she has had more this winter than she typically does) is running well below average.

By: j a higginbotham

j a higginbotham — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 05:10:11 +0000

You mean the ACS – American Chemical Society?

For one of many sites on snow crystals, see http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 21:03:56 +0000

Kevin, there are two Sochis: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/01/30/there-are-two-sochis/

You are citing the temps for the sub-tropical coastal city. There isn’t an average temperature for the mountain ski resort that I know of. Well, there is an average temperature I’m sure but there is not a climatological record. It has been a ski resort for years, though, with snow and everything.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 21:00:41 +0000

FWIW, the average high temperature in Sochi in February is 57 degrees F. So the lack of snow has more to do with a poor siting choice than global warming.

Just saying.