2014 Winter Olympics in Subtropic Sochi

People had to bundle up when the Winter Olympics were in Utah and Vancouver, but there is not much cold in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 games.

Sochi is where many Russian leaders escape to enjoy the sun and where the rich spend their vacations. In fact, the athletes must travel 40 miles outside of the main venues to reach the Caucasus Mountains. There is no snow guaranteed there, though, and last year’s World Cup events were cancelled due to no snow. Russians saved snow for the past two years.

They’ve been stockpiling snow for two years — 25 million cubic feet (enough to cover Berkshire) under insulated blankets — just in case. ‘Snow gutters’ can transport extra snow down from the chilly mountaintops to the warmer slopes down below. And if all else fails, more than 500 snow cannons are poised to churn out the artificial variety. So by hook or by crook (of which there are many), it’ll be all white on the night.

The Finnish company Snow Secure provided 1.5 million cubic meters of fake snow to the Olympics. Snow Machines from Midland, MI, shipped more than 400 snow-making machines to the Olympics.

Sochi’s 10-day forecast says it will be warm. Pyeongchang, South Korea was the runner-up for the 2014 games and their 10-day forecast shows cold temperatures with actual chances of snow. Real snow.