Visibility below 100 meters: Beijing Winter Olympics Disruption
Some events of the Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday were forced to cancel due to intense snowfall over the region throughout much of the day, occurring due to the passage of a low pressure and frontal system in a baroclinic region ahead of an upper level trough. It was the heaviest snowfall event of the winter so far.
Visibility at both the Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport dipped to 800 meters on Sunday afternoon due to the snowfall and mist.
Visibility dipping below 1000 meters was widespread across the various Winter Olympic venues. Visibility at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park where the freeski slopestyle and halfpipe events were supposed to be held dipped below 100 meters close to around 6 PM Sunday.
The Meteorological Centre for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games had issued weather alerts such as " At present, there has been obvious snowfall in the venue area. It is expected that the accumulated snowfall will be more than 4mm until 05:00 on 14th, and the visibility will be less than 1000m during the snowfall. Please pay attention." for Beijing and "It is expected that the venue will see heavy snow with accumulation amount of 6-8mm and snow depth increment of 8-11cm through 5a.m 14th. Please pay attention." for the where the training run for women’s downhill skiing was supposed to be held before being cancelled.
"The Municipal Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning signal for heavy fog at 07:35 on February 13, 2022: It is expected that until 08:00 on the 14th, due to the snowfall, most parts of the city will be foggy, the visibility is less than 1000 meters, and some areas are less than 500 meters , please take precautions. (Source of early warning information: National Early Warning Information Release Center)" The Beijing Meteorological Bureau had said for Beijing.
Better conditions are expected on Monday as drier air moves in from the northwest from the strong Siberian high pressure system.
Beijing typically has dry winters due to the influence of the Siberian High but sporadic snowfall occurs with the passage of baroclinic regions.
People are advised to follow the latest weather forecasts, observations and warnings from the Meteorological Centre for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games at https://olympic.weather.com.cn/en_dongao/index.html.
Himawari-8 satellite image:
Visibility at both the Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport dipped to 800 meters on Sunday afternoon due to the snowfall and mist.
Visibility dipping below 1000 meters was widespread across the various Winter Olympic venues. Visibility at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park where the freeski slopestyle and halfpipe events were supposed to be held dipped below 100 meters close to around 6 PM Sunday.
The Meteorological Centre for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games had issued weather alerts such as " At present, there has been obvious snowfall in the venue area. It is expected that the accumulated snowfall will be more than 4mm until 05:00 on 14th, and the visibility will be less than 1000m during the snowfall. Please pay attention." for Beijing and "It is expected that the venue will see heavy snow with accumulation amount of 6-8mm and snow depth increment of 8-11cm through 5a.m 14th. Please pay attention." for the where the training run for women’s downhill skiing was supposed to be held before being cancelled.
"The Municipal Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning signal for heavy fog at 07:35 on February 13, 2022: It is expected that until 08:00 on the 14th, due to the snowfall, most parts of the city will be foggy, the visibility is less than 1000 meters, and some areas are less than 500 meters , please take precautions. (Source of early warning information: National Early Warning Information Release Center)" The Beijing Meteorological Bureau had said for Beijing.
Better conditions are expected on Monday as drier air moves in from the northwest from the strong Siberian high pressure system.
Beijing typically has dry winters due to the influence of the Siberian High but sporadic snowfall occurs with the passage of baroclinic regions.
People are advised to follow the latest weather forecasts, observations and warnings from the Meteorological Centre for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games at https://olympic.weather.com.cn/en_dongao/index.html.
Himawari-8 satellite image:
Surface analysis chart:
Upper level chart:
Image courtesy of Meteologix and ECMWF.