Quick warming temps, no snow - How soon could Winter Olympics be reduced to 1 city?

2021 was the warmest year in China's history. China’s capital Beijing had its own hot record as February 2021 was marked by extreme heat, setting a record when the temperature rose 40 degrees F above normal.

Yes, this might be data from last year, but the trend does not give much hope. For example, since 1950, temperatures in Beijing have warmed 8.9 degrees F during the month of February.

China's capital was unable to accumulate much snow during the months before the start of the 2022 Olympics, so they turned to create artificial snow for the event. And while artificial snow has been used since the 1980 games, it has become more common in recent years. In fact, most of the snow we see this year in Beijing is completely artificial, except for the snow that could fall during the event itself.

Since 1950, temperatures have risen drastically, and in many regions, the most affected temperatures are those of the winter season. Climate Central, a nonprofit climate organization, looked at the 19 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics since 1950. On average these cities have warmed 4.8 degrees since 1950.

The cities that have seen the largest increase in temperatures in February since 1950 are Oslo (hosted in 1952) and Lillehammer (hosted in 1994)in Norway, with an increase of 9.8 and 9.2 F respectively. This heating marks big differences in phenomena necessary for the games, such as the formation of snow.

According to a study by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada, four cities, (Sochi, Squaw Valley, Chamonix, Garmisch-Partenkirchen) that have been hosts are already not capable of sustaining the right atmospheric conditions in February to host the Olympic Games.

If we fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the points agreed in the Paris Agreement, there will only be 4 previous Winter Olympics cities left capable of having safe and fair conditions for the games during the 2050s, and only the city of Sapporo, Japan, host of the 1972 Olympics, would continue to have them for a decade of 2080.