Vancouver View - El Nino Helps Venues Open Early; Vancouver Airport Ready for Snow

The El Nino Effect

Cool temperatures in high elevations mixed with abundant November precipitation allowed early openings at Vancouver 2010’s three snow venues—Whistler Blackcomb, Whistler Olympic Park and Cypress Mountain.

The venues are receiving the effects of El Nino. Environment Canada senior research meteorologist Amir Shabbar said El Nino is here to stay.

“This is going to be at least a moderate-strength El Nino and it is expected to go into winter and into spring,” said Amir Shabbar. “This is not going to be a weak event.”

El Nino started forming in May when equatorial Pacific temperatures were 0.8 degrees Celsius above normal. By October, it was 1.5 degrees Celsius above normal. Shabbar said El Nino typically brings a warmer winter to western Canada, with 1-2 degrees Celsius above normal for December through February.

“We would expect more precipitation than normal in early winter and later on it turns into normal to below normal,” Shabbar said.

Whistler Blackcomb, site of alpine skiing, is enjoying its biggest month ever with 530 cm of cumulative snowfall reported through Nov. 24. The resort is more than halfway to its annual 10 meter average.

Nordic trails at the Whistler Olympic Park opened Nov. 21. On Nov. 24, the snow base was reported at 114 cm unpacked and 62 cm packed. Cypress Mountain, site of snowboarding and freestyle skiing, had a 215 cm mid-mountain base by Nov. 24.

Vancouver 2010 is the first coastal Winter Games since Oslo 1952. IOC executive director of Games Gilbert Felli called weather the biggest risk to Vancouver 2010.

"We are ready for that, we've been doing planning for a while," Felli said. "If the weather goes very, very bad, it's a difficult situation but we have got experience in the past like in the Nagano Games. We are quick to take care of all the situations."

YVR Readies for Winter

The official airport of Vancouver 2010 is ready for winter and the Olympics.

Christmas-time snowstorms caused chaos in 2008 at Vancouver International Airport, spurring officials to spend $28.7 million on snowplows and de-icing equipment to avoid a repeat during the Games.

“If we get a meter of snow this Christmas or during the Olympics, we’ll be able to handle it,” pledged operations vice-president Don Ehrenholz on Tuesday.

The Sea Island airport is expecting 231,000 more passengers because of the Games, including 39,000 departing with 77,000 pieces of luggage. An auxiliary terminal is under construction for the Olympic family.

All aircraft traveling to YVR must be pre-screened. Abbotsford, Kelowna, Victoria, Calgary, Spokane, Wash., Boise, Idaho; and Reno, Nev. are designated portals for corporate charters and small airlines.

Olympic planning vice-president Paul Levy said YVR isn’t expecting an airspace closure on opening and closing night of the Games, as happened at Salt Lake 2002 and Torino 2006, but the decision rests with the RCMP Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit.

“We take our lead from them,” Levy said. “If that happens, we’re ready to deal with it.”

IOC Project Review

An IOC group will visit Vancouver Dec. 16-17 to make sure there are no "holes in the plans" for transportation, communication and venue technology, said Gilbert Felli.

The last project review will include Coordination Commission chairman Rene Fasel.

"It's a normal process we do just before the Games," Felli said. "When we come to Vancouver we'll do an exercise, a mock exercise between the organizing committee and the IOC to make sure that by the time of the Games the communication goes well between the parties."

U.S. Newspapers Drop Winter Olympic Plans

U.S. Olympic Committee figures indicate the number of U.S. newspapers sending credentialed staff to the Winter Games is declining.

The USOC approved 68 newspapers to cover Vancouver 2010, almost half as many as the 134 for the Salt Lake 2002. USOC issued 481 individual passes but 135 were returned. Many were redistributed to online publications, including Yahoo! what will have 21 people at the Games. USA Today (56 passes) and Sports Illustrated (35) are the top two. The Canadian Olympic Committee approved 251 passes for Canadians reporters and photographers.

Skeptics Abound

A published opinion poll found the Olympic torch relay is failing to excite Canadians.

Angus Reid Public Opinion found only 16 percent of Canadians followed the story very closely or moderately closely and 55 percent would not attend an event or public meeting featuring the Olympic flame or torch relay. The survey found "a pocket of dissent" within B.C., where 32 percent said they strongly or moderately support anti-Olympics protests.

Among supporters the most anticipated events were Men's hockey (61 percent), opening ceremony (53 percent) and figure skating (49 percent). Seventy-four percent said Canada would win at least one gold medal.

Angus Reid polled 2,027 randomly selected adults in Canada Nov. 11-13. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.2 percent. The company, which has contracts with VANOC, said the survey was independent.

Prices reported in U.S. dollars unless noted, based on 1USD=1.04599CAD.

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With reporting from Bob Mackin.