Beijing kicked off the 2022 Winter Olympics with the opening ceremony on Friday. As many as 84 countries are participating in the games.
Athletes from around the world would also be competing on ice and snow around Beijing for the next two weeks—except that much of the snow that is being witnessed in one of the largest cities is actually fake.
According to CNN, the Beijing Games is the first Winter Olympics to use virtually 100 per cent artificial snow.
Beijing has extremely dry winters, averaging only 0.4 inches of precipitation for December, January, and February combined. There’s just not enough moisture for consistent snowfall in this part of the world.
Hence in order to give an illusion of a wintery climate, the Beijing Organising Committee has deployed more than 100 snow generators and 300 snow-making guns.
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But in order to make fake snow real, vast amounts of water and energy are needed.
According to reports, an estimated 49 million gallons of water — that would fill 74 Olympic-sized pools —have been used for creating artificial snow.
For the Beijing winter Olympics, China has borrowed a machine from Italy that has been pumping snow since November 2021.
The machine sprays ice particles and a thin mist of water vapour, 60 metres from above the ground, where these particles combine to become snow and then fall.
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The Italian company has been using around 290 snow pumping machines for the winter games, according to The Sunday Times.
However, this is not the first time that artificial snow is being used for the Olympics.
According to the Sport Ecology Group, artificial snow has been used in the Winter Olympics since the 1980 games in Lake Placid.
The 2014 Sochi Olympics, which were located in an unusually warm climate for the Winter Olympics, was 80 per cent artificial.
(With inputs from agencies)
