What's behind the Olympics' punishing, game-cancelling winds
Meteorologist
Thursday, February 15, 2018, 11:58 AM - Most years the athletes are front and centre at the Winter Games, but in Pyeongchang it has quickly become the weather. Particularly, the winds that are unique to its location.
Extreme sports challenge athletes to their limits in so many ways, but what happens when Mother Nature becomes involved? Delayed start times and cancelled events. In fact, extreme winds have now postponed an alpine skiing event for the third time in four days.
Pyeongchang Olympic organizers say 16 people were treated for scrapes and light injuries caused by high winds whipping through some venues (more on injuries below). The winds through the trails crisscrossing the Taebaek Mountains made it too dangerous for skiers to be out there. Strong gusts of up to 65 km/h were on the mountains, which made the chair lifts carrying athletes too dangerous to operate.
Anyone who has ever walked near a very tall building in the middle of a city on a windy day will have noticed a strange effect called Wind Tunneling Effect. The wind is often much more intense around the base of the tower of a building, or in this case, a mountain. The same thing is happening in the South Korea mountains: we explore below.
Click play to watch below: Video perfectly shows just how windy it really is in Pyeongchang
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The science behind the strong winds
The dominant weather system in this part of the world is the Siberian High in Russia. This semi- permanent weather feature has a clockwise wind flow around it and ushers in very cold air, and bitter wind chills especially in early February.
These winds can also be modified as they flow across North Korean and through complex mountain terrain can accelerate. Additionally, in this part of the world it is important to remember that we are not at sea level. For example, some mountain locations of the Pyeongchang Winter Games are basically in a high elevation ski resort, similar elevation to Banff, AB or Lake Tahoe, CA. Temperatures cool with height, so while Pyeongchang is approximately the same latitude as San Francisco, it is much colder and more susceptible to cold winds aloft. The winds race ever faster due to a lack of friction (nothing to slow them down) at high altitudes. Those winds are channeled through the mountains and become "squished" and they can even speed up.
A Wind Tunneling Effect - The air becomes compressed on the windy side of the buildings or mountains, and its speed increases considerably between the obstacles to the wind. This is known as a "tunnel effect".
Click ply to watch below: Pyeongchang winds explainer
A rough start to the Winter Games due to winds and the spread of the norovirus
A total of 16 Pyeongchang Olympics staff and spectators were injured when strong winds ripped through the Olympic venues on Wednesday (February 14), while also causing considerable damage to the installations, officials said on Thursday (February 15).
Several events were postponed or rescheduled, including Nordic combined, biathlon and Alpine skiing, and more than 60 tents were damaged by winds with a speed of seven metres per second as organisers warned of flying debris.
The wind ripped tents, signposts and steel fencing off their base and sent them flying through the Olympic park.
Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Gangneung Olympic Park - Gangneung, South Korea – February 14, 2018. Firefighters remove the debris of a damaged food stall that was blown over by the wind. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
While calm returned along with glorious sunshine to the Olympic venues on Thursday, the spread of the norovirus that has hit mainly security staff showed no signs of abating.
More than 200 people have now been infected with the virus, also known as the "winter vomit bug" but no athletes so far, according to organisers.
The virus had broken out in the leadup to last week's opening ceremony and led to some 1,200 security staff being quarantined. Organisers had to call in military personnel to replace them.
