Weather and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
26 juli 2012 -
As a member of the World Meteorological Organization and the United Kingdom's national weather service, the UK’s Met Office is playing an important role in support of London 2012, which is the biggest event the country has ever hosted.
Weather and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Science and technology developments for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (25 July - 12 August and 29 August – 9 September 2012, respectively) will help to deliver increasing accuracy and detail in weather forecasts during the Games and well into the future.
Olympic Venues Throughout the planning and construction of event venues, the Met Office has been on hand to support logistics and advise on long term average weather conditions at these locations. Maximum and minimum temperature, rainfall, sunshine hours, wind speed and direction will all have a bearing on how Olympic venues and athletes perform.
Weather and sport The weather can have a huge impact on sports – from cycling to surfing, cricket to beach volleyball – and spectators. The weather can help or hinder –headwinds make running and cycling harder, while tailwinds help push athletes forward. Some world records are invalid if set under certain conditions.
Detailed weather forecasts The Met Office is providing detailed local weather forecasts for five days ahead for 5,000 sites around the UK via its partners at ITV and the BBC.
Specialist knowledge To add specialist knowledge and expertise, the Met Office will have 12 forecasters on site across the Olympic venues throughout the games. Spokespeople will be available in London for media interviews throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Regular event specific forecasts will be posted on Met Office anything a Great British Summer is likely to bring to the proceedings.
Enhanced weather capability for Olympic games As part of the services provided for London 2012, the Met Office has installed additional weather observation equipment and developed enhanced forecasting capabilities. During the Olympic and Paralympic games the Met Office will also be showcasing some forecasting as well as providing additional services for the public.
These services include:
Daily air quality forecasts The air we breathe contains small amounts of trace gases and particles which can be harmful to our health; adding the influence of heat and sunshine can make matters worse. The Met Office will provide daily air quality index forecasts on its website for over 5000 locations out to five days, providing valuable information to competing athletes and spectators alike.
Wind and wave modelling for Weymouth and Portland Increased wind and wave modelling for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events will give weather forecasters, competing sailors, organisers and safety crews a much better idea of what conditions they will find on the water.
High resolution forecasting The introduction of high resolution ensemble forecasting at 2 km for the whole of the UK can improve weather predictability through the analysis of probability.
New weather observing technology The Met Office has installed additional weather observing technology to support its weather forecasts and modelling capability including Doppler radar, a new marine observing buoy in Weymouth Bay and weather stations in the Olympic Park and Eton Dorney.
