Eyes On Milan-Cortina: How The Winter Olympics Are Battling Weather Woes

Are The Winter Olympics Running Out Of Winter?

Winter as we’ve always known it may be slipping away. And right now, the athletes, coaches and organizers involved in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games are feeling it most of all.

This year's games are a snapshot of what happens when warming temperatures collide with events that depend on cold, snow and predictable winters.

From where the Games can be held to how much artificial snow is needed, climate change is reshaping the future of winter sports.

“It really puts both safety and fairness at risk for the athletes," Daniel Scott, a professor at the University of Waterloo who studies climate risks to winter events, told the Associated Press.

Scott has spent years looking at which places around the world can realistically host the Winter Olympics as the planet warms. He warns that the list is getting shorter fast.

Out of 93 mountain locations that currently have the infrastructure for elite winter sports, only about 52 are expected to still have reliable snow and cold temperatures by the 2050s. By the 2080s, that number could fall to as low as 30.

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“Climate change is going to change the geography of where we can hold the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics,” Scott said. “The only question is, how much?”

The situation is even trickier for the Paralympic Winter Games, which usually start about two weeks after the Olympics end. By that point, worst-case climate models show that late-winter warmth could reduce the number of viable host sites down to only four within the next six decades.

The problem has become so evident, the International Olympic Committee is now openly discussing holding the Winter Games earlier in the year. Researchers found that starting both the Olympics and Paralympics about three weeks ahead of schedule could nearly double the number of locations that could reliably host.

Even then, there’s a catch: By mid-century, research shows there are almost no locations that could host snow sports without heavy use of artificial snowmaking.

Beijing made history in 2022 by hosting the first Winter Olympics that relied almost entirely on manufactured snow. Milan-Cortina is following that path.

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Organizers plan to produce millions of pounds of snow in the coming weeks, marking a massive shift from the 1956 Cortina Games, which didn’t use any artificial snow at all.

Though Northern Italy is famous for cold, snowy winters, temperatures have climbed and seasonal snowfall has dropped sharply across the Alps in recent decades.

Behind the scenes, snowmaking experts are working overtime to keep Olympic courses in top shape. One of this year's heroes is Davide Cerato, who’s responsible for preparing several ski and snowboard courses for the 2026 Games.

Cerato calls today’s manufactured snow “technical snow,” and in elite racing, it’s simply part of the deal. Athletes expect courses that can survive days of training and competition without turning slushy or deeply rutted.

To make that happen, Cerato helped oversee the construction of massive, high-elevation water reservoirs designed specifically for snow production.

The process is highly automated. Sensors constantly track snow depth across the slopes. If coverage drops, snow guns switch on. If there’s too much snow, they shut off.

All of this points to a bigger reality: Future Winter Olympics will rely far less on natural snowfall and far more on technology, timing and carefully chosen locations.

Winter sports aren’t going away, but where they happen, when they happen and how they’re pulled off is changing fast. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Games may be our first glimpse of that, as athletes and teams work to adapt to a warming world.

Weather.com lead editor Jenn Jordan explores how weather and climate weave through our daily lives, shape our routines and leave lasting impacts on our communities.