Winter Olympics Face Existential Crisis as ‘Snowmaking Windows’ Slam Shut
The future of the Winter Olympics is in jeopardy as rising global temperatures render natural precipitation unreliable, forcing host cities to rely almost exclusively on machine-made alternatives. Hydrology Professor Carmen de Jong has issued a stark warning that the Games may have “no future” in their current form, pointing to the upcoming Milano-Cortina 2026 Games—where Cortina is expected to rely on 100% artificial snow—as a grim milestone in the sport’s history.
“Artificial snow has more or less completely replaced natural snow,” de Jong asserts, noting that the crisis extends beyond a simple lack of snowfall. The warning highlights a critical physical limitation: the shrinking “snowmaking window.” Artificial snow requires specific wet-bulb temperatures to produce; as winter baselines rise, the hours available to run snow cannons effectively are disappearing. This creates a feedback loop where massive water and energy resources are deployed to combat the effects of climate change, further exacerbating the environmental footprint of the event.
This assessment is backed by extensive modeling from researchers like Daniel Scott of the University of Waterloo. His longitudinal studies on the survivability of Olympic hosts suggest that if global emissions remain on their current trajectory, the pool of viable host cities is rapidly evaporating. Scott’s data indicates that by the mid-to-late century, many historic winter sports venues will simply be too warm to host the Games, even with advanced snowmaking capabilities. The industry has already witnessed this shift, with recent Games in Beijing (2022) and Sochi (2014) necessitating massive infrastructure projects to maintain snow in regions that were historically marginal for such events.
Despite the environmental outcry, proponents of artificial snow argue it is an operational necessity regarding athlete safety and fairness. Event organizers and the International Ski Federation (FIS) maintain that machine-made snow provides a denser, more consistent surface that withstands the wear of competition better than natural powder. This consistency is vital for high-speed disciplines, ensuring that the fiftieth racer down the mountain faces similar conditions to the first. Furthermore, the winter sports industry contends that modern snowmaking technology is becoming increasingly energy-efficient and that techniques like “snow farming”—preserving mounds of snow from the previous winter under insulation—offer a viable path for adaptation.
Nevertheless, the reliance on 100% artificial surfaces at venues like Cortina signals a fundamental transformation. As the “white strip on a brown mountain” becomes the visual standard for the Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee faces an inevitable reckoning between the traditions of winter sport and the harsh reality of a warming planet.
