Looking to the skies for safety on the slopes

Forecasters work to ensure Asian Winter Games held without hitch

On Jan 15, weeks ahead of the holding of the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, forecasters huddled over monitoring equipment in a command center to assess the weather conditions before a freestyle skiing test event at the Yabuli competition zone.

The wind was picking up at the main venue for the test event, and a critical decision as to whether to go ahead or postpone the following day's semifinal needed to be made based on the forecasting data.

Tang Kai, chief forecaster at the meteorological station for the Games, said that fierce gusts could jeopardize the safety and performance of athletes, and so team leaders and referees decided after a vote, along with the organizing committee, to postpone the event by a day.