Aerial photo taken on Nov. 16, 2021 shows staff preparing the tracks at Yunding Ski Resort in Chongli of Zhangjiakou City, north China's Hebei Province. The seats of Yunding Ski Resort in Zhangjiakou competition zone have been installed, and the staff are busy preparing the tracks for the upcoming test events of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Photo: Xinhua

In a Winter Olympics Games, 70 percent of the sports events are held at outdoor snowfields. This has made the meteorological conditions of the competition venues evaluated as an important criterion for the candidate host city. 

There are two principles that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) follows to identify the most suitable host of the Winter Olympics Games. First, it requires that a candidate city has average temperature in February of below 0 C, and the second is that the snowfall in February has to be at least 30 centimeters in its depth. If an applied host city is evaluated as having less than 75 percent of the potential to meet either of the two principles, then it will have almost zero hope to hold the international winter sport gala. 

But what are these strict criteria for? Do they really matter to athletes' competitions during the event? Yes, they actually do. If an outdoor venue with poor meteorological conditions such as heavy snow, fog and unpredicted wind, these can affect athletes' performances, bringing risks to their safety. Such poor conditions can also lead to the rescheduling and cancellation of events. 

Why Beijing is a best option for hosting the upcoming 2022 Olympics Games? According to a principle released by the IOC, the optimal temperatures for Winter Games are between -12 C and 2 C. Some places that are colder and snowier than Beijing, for example, cities such as Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, have temperatures that are generally lower than -20 C, so that they could not meet the meteorological requirement given by the IOC. In other words, it is not that the coldest places the best option for hosting a Winter Olympics Games, as when the temperatures get too low, it will affect the athletes' performances and can easily lead to injuries associated with cold weather.

A total 411 surveying facilities and equipment sites have been allocated closely to the venues in the three competition zones of Beijing, its Yanqing district and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, allowing the meteorological conditions to be better forecast and monitored during the Games.