Warmer world reshaping Winter Olympics

As skiers speed down Alpine runs and skaters take to the ice in northern Italy, the 2026 Winter Olympics are playing out under a cloud that has little to do with snowstorms. Scientists warn, according to a recent Anadolu Agency piece, that climate change is steadily undermining the cold, stable winters on which the Games depend.

Across Europe and other traditional winter sport hubs, winters are becoming warmer and shorter. For Olympic organisers, that shift has meant one thing: a growing reliance on artificial snow and mounting concern about how long the Winter Games can remain viable in their current form.

Researchers say the environmental strain on host regions — rising temperatures, drought and water scarcity — is no longer a distant projection but a present-day reality.

“I think there’s no future for the Winter Olympics,” said Carmen de Jong, a hydrology professor at the University of Strasbourg, pointing to escalating heat, dwindling water supplies and expanding environmental risks in mountain regions.

Timothy Kellison, an associate professor of sport management at Florida State University, offered a less categorical but still sobering view. The outlook for the Games, he said, is “challenging.”

Their comments come as the Milan-Cortina Olympics unfold in unusually mild conditions, with organisers leaning heavily on artificial snow to ensure competition standards. Decades ago, most Alpine venues depended primarily on natural snowfall. Today, snowmaking is central to winter sport operations.

The data reflect the transformation. According to Climate Central, average February temperatures in Cortina have climbed by 3.6°C (6.4°F) since the town first hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956.

A shrinking map of possible hosts

Scientists say long-term warming is steadily narrowing the list of places that can reliably stage the Winter Olympics.

Daniel Scott, a professor at Canada’s University of Waterloo, led a recent study evaluating climate reliability at 93 potential host locations for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Of those, he said, between 45 and 55 would remain climate reliable for the Winter Olympics.

Scott described that finding as “a bit of good news,” noting that earlier research focused only on former host cities had suggested that just 12 to 14 would remain suitable under future climate conditions.

The picture is more troubling for the Winter Paralympics, typically held in March when temperatures are higher. Only 17 to 31 of the 93 sites analysed were deemed climate reliable for the Paralympics, placing those events at greater risk.

From natural snowfall to manufactured winter

Artificial snow has become indispensable. While Beijing 2022 drew global attention for using entirely machine-made snow, experts say Alpine venues are increasingly facing similar constraints.

“Cortina also made 100% artificial snow,” de Jong said, describing what she called a “snow drought.” Natural snowfall was absent, and temperatures remained too warm to produce artificial snow until mid-January.

Despite its high elevation, the Cortina region required more than 81 million cubic feet (3 million cubic yards) of artificial snow, according to Climate Central.

But snowmaking is not immune to climate pressures. It requires both cold temperatures and large quantities of water — two resources that are becoming less dependable.

“If it’s so warm, the real problem is that you have such a small timeframe to make snow,” de Jong said. “And then the problem is: where do you get the water from if there’s a drought?”

Scott noted that snowmaking has been factored into Olympic planning since the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid and is now essential to staging the event. Without it, he said, the number of viable host sites by the 2050s would fall to just four.

Kellison cautioned, however, that snowmaking is no cure-all. “You still need cold temperatures to make it, and as winters warm, those windows shrink,” he said. The environmental trade-offs are also considerable: “Snowmaking is water-intensive and energy-intensive.”

In mountain regions already stressed by drought, the additional water demand has intensified pressure on fragile ecosystems. De Jong cited field data from the Boite River in Cortina showing that water withdrawals exceeded permitted limits during low-flow winter periods. Similar concerns have surfaced in Livigno, another Olympic host town.

“Rivers that are already suffering severely from drought and are low-level should not be touched,” she warned, pointing to risks such as freezing waterways, fish die-offs and higher pollution concentrations.

Organizers argue that purpose-built reservoirs ease strain on rivers by storing water in advance. De Jong disputes that claim, saying many reservoirs were completed too late to capture seasonal flows and often require pumping water uphill from valley sources.

Energy supply adds another layer to the sustainability equation. Scott observed that the 2030 Winter Games in France are expected to rely largely on nuclear, wind and solar power, which would reduce emissions tied to snow production.

By contrast, the 2034 Games in Salt Lake City could carry a heavier carbon footprint. “They still have coal in their electricity grid in that part of the US,” Scott said. As a result, snowmaking there could produce a carbon footprint 16 to 20 times higher than in France.

Unpredictable winters, uncertain future

Climate change is also reshaping the physical conditions athletes face.

“The most obvious is a less reliable natural snowpack,” Kellison said, “but the deeper issues concern athlete safety and sport quality.” Artificial snow tends to create denser, icier surfaces, which athletes report as more hazardous.

Unpredictable winters also shorten training seasons and can encourage greater risk-taking. Major competitions are increasingly being cancelled or rescheduled at short notice due to weather instability, he added. “The planning challenges are immense. What used to be predictable winter windows are now highly variable.”

Scott warned that if greenhouse gas emissions remain high, the number of viable Olympic and Paralympic host sites will decline sharply, placing winter sports more broadly at risk.

“The number of lost potential Olympic and Paralympic sites goes up substantially,” he said, leaving fewer and fewer suitable locations.

Professional ski circuits are already experiencing disruptions and cancellations. Future Olympic hosts may still succeed in delivering the Games, Scott said, but unpredictability will be an ever-present factor.

“We just hope that the years that each of these places hosts the Games, they have an average winter for those locations.”

For Kellison, preserving winter sports demands both immediate emissions reductions and smarter planning about where events are staged.

“Dramatically reducing emissions to slow warming and being more strategic about where we hold winter events — in an ideal world, we would prioritise locations that can actually support winter sports sustainably,” he said.

By Tamilla Hasanova