{"id":5137,"date":"2022-12-18T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=5137"},"modified":"2022-11-16T07:06:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T07:06:46","slug":"olympic-skiers-and-snowboarders-are-competing-on-100-fake-snow-the-science-of-how-its-made-and-how-it-affects-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/olympic-skiers-and-snowboarders-are-competing-on-100-fake-snow-the-science-of-how-its-made-and-how-it-affects-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic skiers and snowboarders are competing on 100% fake snow \u2013 the science of how it\u2019s made and how it affects performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Snowmaking machines blow cold water, which freezes before it hits the ground.\n Alexander Uhrin\/iStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nPeter Veals<\/a>, University of Utah<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

The winter Olympics conjure up images of snowy mountain ranges, frozen ice rinks and athletes in cold-weather gear. And for good reason. Winter Olympic venues have often been in places that receive an average snowfall of 300 inches per year<\/a> or more.<\/p>\n\n

However, barring some extremely anomalous weather patterns, the mountains surrounding the snow events for the Beijing Winter Olympics will be tones of brown and green and nearly devoid of snow. The region typically receives only a few inches of snowfall<\/a> in each winter month. This means that basically all of the snow the athletes will be competing on will be human-made.<\/p>\n\n

I am an atmospheric scientist<\/a> who specializes in mountain weather and snow. I am also the co-founder of a snowmaking startup and an avid skier. There are distinct differences between natural and artificial snow, and it will be interesting to see if these differences have any effect on competition.<\/p>\n\n

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