Meteorological Services

Technology

Environment Canada has installed advanced weather science equipment to deliver weather services for the 2010 Winter Games:

 Doppler Radar

A Doppler radar shows meteorologists the location and intensity of precipitation, as well as wind direction and speed. This information will help forecasters determine if a winter storm could cause severe weather in the areas north over the Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Park, east over Whistler and south over the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

The data resolution for the Doppler radar installed for the 2010 Winter Games is four-times greater than the Canadian norm. Where other Doppler radars generally look at weather in flat, geographic intervals of 500 meters or 1 kilometre, this one will look at weather in mountainous intervals of 125 metres.

Wind Profiler

A wind profiler uses radar or sound waves to detect wind speed and direction at various altitudes. This profiler also includes a Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) that will measure temperatures at different altitudes above the profiler.

The wind profiler helps determine the type of precipitation that will hit the ground along the Sea-to-Sky Highway corridor, the main roadway between Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler (Olympic venue sites).

Olympic Automated System Network

Environment Canada has created a complex sensor system for the 2010 Winter Games, including automatic weather stations, remote video camera systems and other complex sensor systems.  This complete sensor system includes over 50 new or upgraded pieces.

Research and Development

As part of an ongoing research project, Environment Canada has incorporated special short-interval forecasts, called “nowcasts,” into weather forecasting for the 2010 Winter Games.

Nowcasting combines weather observations with numerical weather models and other statistical approaches to deliver high-quality forecasts for a very small (six hour) time-window.

Nowcasts help venue weather forecasters predict high-impact weather (heavy snow, extreme wind) over the complex, mountainous terrain of southwestern British Columbia. Previously used at the 2000 Sydney and 2008 Beijing Summer Games, this is the first-time nowcasts are being used for Winter Games forecasting.

Training

Meteorologists have trained onsite at Olympic venue locations since the winter of 2005-2006. These experts have also done extensive training on mountain weather and the interactions of Pacific storm systems within the 2010 Winter Games region.

Legacy

After the 2010 Winter Games are completed, Canadians will benefit from improved local and national weather forecasts.

Environment Canada will know more about weather in the mountains, over the Pacific Ocean and along British Columbia’s coast than ever before. These findings will also be shared with meteorological organizations from around the world, improving global understanding of weather.

Advanced research and technology used for the 2010 Winter Games will be incorporated into Canada’s national weather monitoring network.