The Winter Olympics in a Warming World

For more than one hundred years, the Winter Olympic Games have shown the amazing speed, skill, and grace of human athletes. People from all over the world watch as skiers race down snowy hills and figure skaters glide on ice. However, the future of these famous events is now in doubt. The world is getting warmer, and this changes everything. Even with advanced technology to make artificial snow, the Winter Olympics face big challenges. The warming climate makes it harder to keep the games going as they have in the past.

When the first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924, all the events happened outside. These early games relied completely on natural snow and freezing weather. There was no technology to help. The weather had to be perfect for the games to take place.

A hundred years later, the 2022 Beijing Games showed a very different reality. Skiers raced down hills made entirely of man-made snow. This is very different from the past. New refrigeration systems now cool the luge tracks and ski jumps to keep them safe. Four of the original sports—figure skating, speed skating, curling, and ice hockey—are held inside buildings with controlled air temperature. Technology was essential for Beijing and remains vital today. For the 2026 Winter Olympics in northern Italy, officials built large reservoirs to store water for making snow because natural snowfall was low. However, as the climate continues to warm, even this technology has limits.

As global temperatures rise, we must ask: What will happen to the Winter Olympics in the next one hundred years? Will they still be possible? The data shows a worrying trend. The average daytime temperature in February for host cities has gone up steadily since the 1920s. The average temperature was about 33 degrees Fahrenheit (0.4 degrees Celsius) in the early days. By the early 21st century, it rose to 46 degrees Fahrenheit (7.8 degrees Celsius). This warming makes it very hard for snow to form and stay on the ground.

In a recent study, scientists looked at the weather in 19 past host cities. They predicted how suitable these places would be for future games. Their findings showed that by 2050, four cities—Chamonix; Sochi, Russia; Grenoble, France; and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany—would not have a reliable cold and snowy climate. This prediction is based on the United Nations' best-case scenario, which assumes we will quickly cut down the gases that warm the planet. If we continue to release high amounts of these gases, other cities like Squaw Valley in California and Vancouver, British Columbia, would also become unreliable hosts.

By the 2080s, the study concluded, 12 out of 22 former venues would have climates too unpredictable for outdoor winter sports. This list includes Turin, Italy; Nagano, Japan; and Innsbruck, Austria. The 2026 schedule has five weeks between the Olympics and the Paralympics, extending into mid-March. As snow seasons get shorter, some places may struggle to keep enough snow, even with a lot of man-made snow.

Effective snowmaking needs a specific temperature condition. The dew point, which measures cold and humidity, must be 28 degrees Fahrenheit (-2 degrees Celsius) or lower. If the air is too humid, it can melt the snow even if it is cold. This physical rule directly affects ski slopes and the ice tracks for bobsled, skeleton, and luge. If the air is too warm or too wet, the machines cannot create the conditions needed for competition.

The global climate will keep warming in the coming decades. Warmer air often means winter rain instead of snow, especially at lower mountain heights. The area covered by snow is shrinking globally. For example, ski resorts in Colorado had a difficult start to the 2025-26 season because of low snow and warm temperatures. However, changes are not the same everywhere. In northern Colorado, total snow has gone down since the 1970s, but mostly at higher elevations. This makes it hard to predict exactly which mountains will work in the future.

Future climates may become more humid, which makes snowmaking harder and could ruin the ice for racing sports. Of the 16 sports in the Winter Games, eight need snow or cold air to compete. Three more sports—bobsled, luge, and skeleton—are very sensitive to humidity. Even if it is cold enough, wet air could ruin the race surface.

Technology has allowed the Winter Games to change over the last century. Ice hockey and skating moved indoors. Bobsled and luge tracks got refrigeration systems in the 1960s. The 1980 Games in Lake Placid, New York, used snowmaking to add to natural snow. Today, indoor ski facilities allow people to ski all year. Ski Dubai, which opened in 2005, has five runs inside a building the size of a 25-story skyscraper. This lets skiers practice no matter what the weather is like outside.

Resorts also use "snowfarming." This means collecting extra snow and covering it with insulation so it does not melt. They store it for the next season. This helps when natural snow is low. By covering the snow, they keep it safe during warm spells.

However, making snow and cooling tracks take a lot of energy and water. This is a problem in a warming world. Water is becoming scarce in some places, making it hard to get enough for snow production. Also, if the energy comes from burning fossil fuels, it makes climate change worse. This creates a hard cycle where the solution causes the problem. The International Olympic Committee knows this will change the Summer and Winter Games. They say we must find sustainable ways to adapt.

One likely result is that future games will be limited to more northern places, like Calgary, Alberta, or higher up in the mountains. As lower areas get warmer, organizers may have to move the Games further north or higher to find the cold they need.

The Summer Olympics are not safe from climate challenges. Extreme heat and humidity can make competition dangerous. However, summer sports have more flexibility. Major events can be moved to cooler seasons. The 2022 FIFA World Cup was held in November and December to avoid the intense heat of a Qatari summer. This flexibility lets organizers find a safe time.

Adaptation is much harder for the Winter Games because every event needs snow or ice. This makes them uniquely vulnerable. You cannot have a ski race without snow. A marathon can be run in many weather conditions as long as it is not deadly. This is a big difference.

In times of global uncertainty, the Olympic Games remain a strong symbol of unity. People are inspired by the stories of athletes. The outdoor sports of the Winter Olympics may change a lot in the coming decades. How much they change depends on how well the world handles climate change.

If the world reduces the gases that warm the planet, traditional winter sports might survive in their current forms for many years. If warming continues without control, the Games will look very different. They will rely more on artificial environments and locations further north. This article updates an original version from 2022 to include information about the 2026 Winter Games.