The Winter Olympics were built on the promise of deep snow, biting cold, and mountain towns that could count on winter arriving on schedule. As global temperatures rise, that foundation is starting to crack, and the next generation of Games will be staged on far thinner climatic ice. The question is no longer whether climate change will reshape the event, but how radically it will redraw the map, the calendar, and even the sports themselves.
From Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo to future bids that have not yet been announced, every potential host now has to prove it can still deliver real winter. I see a future in which the Games survive, but only if organizers accept that the old model of chasing ever more spectacular snow venues is colliding with a warming planet that is steadily shrinking their options.
Hotter host cities and the fragile promise of Milan–Cortina
The next Winter Olympics are scheduled to open in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, a pairing that captures both the glamour and the vulnerability of alpine sport. These Italian venues sit in a region where winters are already warmer than in the past, and the Games will unfold in a climate that is trending steadily away from the deep freezes that once defined Olympic fortnights. Analysis of recent conditions shows that host cities have been getting warmer over time, a pattern that turns every marginal weather system into a potential threat to competition schedules and snow quality, especially for outdoor events that depend on cold nights to preserve the course.
That warming trend is not just anecdotal memory from veteran athletes, it is quantified in climate assessments that track how often past Winter Olympics would still meet basic conditions if they were held under today’s temperatures. One review of historical hosts found that many sites now experience more frequent thaws and rain-on-snow events, a shift that erodes natural snowpack and forces organizers to lean heavily on artificial snowmaking. The upcoming Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo are already framed as a test of how a modern Winter Olympics can function in a world of hotter host cities, where the margin for error is shrinking.
A shrinking club of cities that can still host
As temperatures climb, the pool of places that can reliably stage a Winter Games is contracting, and that reality is starting to dominate conversations about the event’s long term future. With the Earth warming at a record rate, climate scientists and sport researchers have modeled how many traditional winter destinations will still have the cold, snow, and infrastructure needed to host elite competition in the coming decades. Their conclusion is stark: the list of viable sites is set to shrink substantially, especially under higher emissions scenarios that push average temperatures further away from the conditions that made classic Winter Olympics possible.
Those projections are already influencing how the International Olympic Committee evaluates bids and long term partnerships. A 2024 study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee and published in the journal Current Issues in Touri examined how different warming pathways would affect the safety and fairness of outdoor events, and it found that many former hosts could become too warm to guarantee reliable snow and ice. That research, which looked at scenarios such as SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5, warned that the Games face a serious risk of losing potential hosts if emissions remain high, a warning that has been echoed in broader coverage of how a 2024 study reshapes planning.
Snow that turns to rain and the rise of artificial winter
On the ground, the most visible symptom of climate change at the Winter Olympics is the transformation of snow itself. Rising temperatures mean that more winter precipitation falls as rain rather than snow, and the snow that does fall can be less suitable for high performance sport. That shift forces organizers to rely on dense, machine made snow that can withstand warm spells but often creates icier, more punishing surfaces for skiers and snowboarders. The romantic image of powder covered slopes is giving way to a more industrial version of winter, where pipes, pumps, and reservoirs are as essential as mountain peaks.
This dependence on artificial snow is not a hypothetical future, it is already embedded in recent Games. Past hosts have had to manufacture nearly all of their own snow to keep events on track, a practice that consumes large volumes of water and energy and can strain local ecosystems. Climate researchers warn that as winters continue to warm, even snowmaking will face limits, since it requires sufficiently cold air to work effectively. The trend toward more rain, thinner snowpack, and heavy snowmaking has been documented in analyses that describe how rising temperatures are threatening the basic ingredients of the Winter Olympics.
Inside the IOC’s scramble to future proof the Games
Behind the scenes, the IOC is being forced into a fundamental rethink of when and where the Winter Games can be held. Rising temperatures are pushing organizers to consider shifting the calendar toward colder parts of the season, clustering events in higher altitude venues, and even revisiting the rotation model so that a small group of proven winter cities host repeatedly. There are currently 93 cities that have at some point expressed interest in staging the Winter Games, but climate modeling suggests that only a fraction of them will remain climatically reliable as warming continues, especially under high emissions scenarios.
These pressures are reshaping the IOC’s governance structures as well as its technical criteria. The organization’s Future Host Commission is now tasked with weighing long term climate resilience alongside traditional factors like venues, transport, and public support, a shift that reflects how environmental risk has moved from the margins to the center of Olympic planning. Reporting on this process has highlighted how rising temperatures are forcing the IOC to confront the possibility that the Winter Games may only be viable in a narrow band of locations that can still guarantee cold, snowy conditions.
Athletes, fans, and the cultural stakes of a warming winter
For athletes, the changing climate is not an abstract chart, it is a daily reality that shapes training, safety, and the meaning of their careers. Belgian biathlete Maya Cloe has spoken about how inconsistent snow and unpredictable weather complicate preparation, from waxing skis for wildly variable conditions to coping with slushy tracks that sap speed and increase the risk of falls. Competitors in endurance events face additional health risks when temperatures rise, including overheating and more frequent course softening that can turn races into survival tests rather than pure contests of skill. Their testimonies underscore that the Winter Olympics are not just a logistical puzzle for organizers, but a workplace that is becoming more hazardous for the people who make the spectacle possible.
Fans are also being forced to adjust their expectations of what a Winter Games looks like. Television viewers have grown accustomed to seeing brown hillsides framing narrow white ribbons of artificial snow, a visual reminder that the event is increasingly out of sync with its surroundings. Social media coverage has amplified this tension, with posts noting that with global warming accelerating, only half of future host cities may have natural snow by 2050, a warning that has circulated widely in discussions of the Olympics and Environmental change. As the gap widens between the snowy imagery used to market the Games and the patchy reality on the ground, the event risks losing some of its cultural resonance as the pinnacle of winter sport.
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