Sunday, April 24, 2011

"A Solid Weather Programme"

That's what they got, says Dimitri Chernyshenko, discussing Sochi 2014's to get out in front of the likely challenge from Sochi's Mediterranean climate to having, uh, snow on the ground in 2014.  Snow will likely be very important to the overall success of the Games, so Chernyshenko hopes to avoid having to fly and truck in snow as happened in Vancouver.  What's the plan?  Why, "hot snow programme," of course:

He [Chernyshenko] said that their "hot snow" programme would provide reliable snow cover in Sochi even at temperatures of up to +15 degrees.
Mr Chernyshenko said the organisers hoped to store enough snow from the previous winter season in case February 2014, when the games are being held, should prove to be unusually warm.
And as well as storing snow for a year, Sochi 2014 also hopes to make use of a number of scientific measures to boost the quality and volume of snow that they need.
One will be to use a chemical additive to improve the bonding quality of the snow.
"Another is to make powder from ice, to create additional snow when needed," said Mr Chernyshenko, a native of Sochi.
 The real enemy, of course is rain; that's what made the skiing conditions so brutally difficult in Vancouver.  That's ok, because what I didn't quote is the fact that the Ministry of Defence has "technology to dissolve rain clouds."  Forcible climate change;  only in Russia...

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