Are the weather conditions under control ?

Are the weather conditions under control ?

by Maria Pia Beltran 

Volunteer giving up to snowboardin at the  Rosa Plateu Extreme Park because of the fog

SOCHI, February 1 - Weather conditions under control: the true enemy could be the fog. Today the main topic within Sochi 2014 has been regarding the meteorological conditions.

SNOW
<<We are confident that, in any weather condition we will provide necessary levels of snow for any events - says Sergey Bondarenko, Head of Sochi 2014 Sport Functions - the sky jump and the Nordic combined venues are fully prepared for training and sport events, the history of the Olympic Games
shows it is common for events to be postponed or cancelled, we have specific slots and days for all the disciplines in mountain sports>>. At Rosa Plateau in the Mountain Cluster where the Extreme Park is set, the snow will be the last problem ever for what we have seen during a very first visit. The major enemy of the competitions could instead be the fog, an item that nobody can defeat.

 The snow in the valley coming up to the Rosa Plateau Extreme Park

FOG
While the temperature and the snow seem to be exactly what a Winter Olympic needs, the fog could become a real matter of discussion, since from what we have just experienced the visibility on the top yesterday afternoon was really limited due to the condition of the clouds that are keeping covered the mountain. No one has mentioned the problem today but Bondarenko feels confident about the space necessary for cancelled competition due to the weather difficulties, even without mentioning the fog as a real risk factor. With the weather forecast system the Organizing Committee hope to preview the exact condition with 5 days in advance: <<Actually we have a denser network of monitoring than before the Games with 12 mobile weather forecasting and motoring stations in the mountains - states Valery Lukyanov, Sochi 2014 Weather Forecast Manager - there are 43 managers and experts who are providing weather monitoring and 10 technical experts>>.

TEMPERATURES
In the Olympic Park the temperature has been between 2° and 6° during the last two days considering hours from 8a.m. till 22a.m: <<At the night time the temperature in the Olympic Park can drop to zero - confirms Lukyanov - we have had temperatures of up to 18 degrees here but now we are seeing lower temperatures and they will remain>>.

Cable Railway view coming down from Rosa Plateau to Rosa Khutor