气象监测,
Poised on Mt. Ogden overlooking the Snow Basin venue, a CampbellScientific weather station shares space with a communicationstower. Snow Basin will host a variety of alpine skiingevents.
When Salt Lake City opens its doors to the world for the 2002Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games this winter, adverse weatherwill be more than a casual concern. Not only could weather delaysporting events, it could also leave surface streets and highwaysencrusted in snow and ice, impeding venue access for athletes,Olympic officials, international media and spectators.
气象监测,
A station stands at Soldier Hollow Stadium, venue for thebiathlon, all cross-country skiing events and the nordic combined.
The effects of snowstorms and other large-scale weather systemsare widespread throughout northern Utah. Hazardous winterweather including lake-effect snowstorms, ice fog, gap winds, downslope wind-storms and low visibility over mountain passes are oftenrelated to local terrain features, the Wasatch Mountains and GreatSalt Lake being the most prominent. As such, planning for aweather support system began in 1995, shortly after theInternational Olympic Committee designated Salt Lake City as hostfor the2002 Games.
Managed by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC), thesystem, which includes Campbell Scientific automated weatherstations, relies upon meteorologists from the public, private, andacademic sectors of the atmospheric science community. Itspans the network of indoor Olympic venues along the Wasatch Front(the metropolitan corridor west of the Wasatch Mountains that ishome to the bulk of Utah's population and runs 110 km at~1,300 m inelevation) and outdoor venues on the eastern flanks of the WasatchMountains which range in elevation from 2,826 m (9,270 ft) at thetop of the men's downhill course, to 1,670 m (5,480 ft) at thecross country/biathlon course. The variations in weather andclimate from venue to venue are tremendous.
气象监测,
Red triangles mark the location of 278 weather stations (most ofwhich are Campbell Scientific equipment) throughout northern Utah.
Forecasting responsibilities are like-wise varied. Olympicweather support has traditionally been led by the host country'sprimary weather agency. But weather forecasting duties forthe 2002Winter Games will be shared by forecasters from theNational Weather Service and KSL, Salt Lake City's NationalBroadcasting Company (NBC) affiliate. Individuals from otheragencies, including the NWS Salt Lake Weather Forecast Office, theNOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction (CIRP), the NWSWestern Region Scientific Services Division, the Aviation SecurityOperations Center (ASOC) at Hill Air Force Base, and the UtahAvalanche Center will pro-vide data, resources and forecasts forspecific Olympic-related applications. The SLOC weathersupport group also includes weather volunteers, includingundergraduate and graduate students from the University of Utah andother local residents. Close coordination of all groupsinvolved, therefore, will be vital if consistent forecasts are tobe ensured.
The KSL team consists of 13 private-sector meteorologistscharged with pro-viding detailed microscale weather fore-casts forthe five outdoor venues. Assembled by Mark Eubank, KSL chiefmeteorologist, the venue forecast team has extensive experienceforecasting northern Utah weather. Venue forecaster swillhave on-site access to the latest weather observations, graphics,and model data. Weather forecasts will be issued three timesdaily with updates issued as needed. Forecast fields include:sky cover, precipitation type and amount, air temperature, winddirection, wind speed, wind gusts, wind chill, visibility,humidity, and snow temperature. A joint weather phoneconference will be con-ducted each morning between forecasters atthe venues, the NWS Salt Lake field office, and the ASOC. Official manual weather observations will be started one hourbefore each outdoor event begins and will continue at 15-minuteintervals throughout the event.
气象监测,
Four PCs at the NWS office in Salt Lake City use PC208W to callremote stations.
Since documentation of weather conditions prior to the Olympicswas required for planning (and during the Games for operations)weather equipment was installed at venues and other key locationsin northern Utah beginning in 1996.Portable weather stationsmanufactured by Campbell Scientific, Inc., that were deployed bythe NWS Southern Region for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games,were made available to the NWS Western Region after the summergames were completed. Also during 1996, the NWS WesternRegion and the National Severe Storms Laboratory began are searchproject in the vicinity of Salt Lake City to validate WSR-88D radaralgorithms in regions of complex terrain. In support of thatproject, weather equipment was deployed at eight locations(fourwithin the Wasatch Front and four at Olympic venues).
Forecasting and weather-data recording in preparation for the2002 Olympic Winter Games have allowed a unique partnership toevolve since 1996, with government, commercial, and researchcommunities sharing weather information in northern Utah andthroughout the western United States. Initially referred toas the Utah Mesonet, the collection of data outside of Utah led toits redesignation as Meso West in January 2000. Now, duringFebruary and March 2002, weather observations will be availablefrom over 278locations in the northern Utah region.
气象监测,
Shooting Star Jump Station on the downhill course.
气象监测,
This article was derived from a manuscript submitted to theBulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The fulltext is available a thttp://www. met. utah.edu/olympics/