Think it's warm in Vancouver? Try Sochi

Last Updated: Saturday, February 20, 2010 | 8:24 AM ET

By Brandon Hicks, CBC Sports

Warm weather has played havoc during the first week of the Games. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

Talking about the weather is one of the best icebreakers known to mankind. And with the international community descended onto Vancouver, you'd think it'd be a great jumping-off point to meet some pretty Scandinavians.

And it would be — if it wasn't so darned warm right now that you're too busy trying not to sweat all over the place.

Any other year, a mild winter would be welcomed with open arms, but "breaking the ice" is exactly what Vancouver wishes wasn't happening during the Olympics.

Mild, rainy weather throughout the first week of the Games has played havoc with the competition schedules at Whistler and Cypress Mountain.

It has also forced organizers to refund thousands of standing-room tickets, because apparently being in wet slush up to your waist can be a bit uncomfortable.

Some areas of Vancouver actually hit a 10 C high over the past few days and snow has been flown in from as far as Yak Peak, a two-hour drive east of the city, to fill courses that are being supplemented with decidedly un-snow-like bales of hay.

The rain has finally stopped, but the shining sun is no better. And so there was another weather-related delay Friday, as a men's aerials training session on Cypress was scrapped because crews have been scrambling to preserve the sun-baked, deteriorating course.

Worst ever?

Along with all the other problems, some of the international media that plied the "worst Olympics ever" track were asking why the Games were even in Vancouver at all, as if the city's weather was never suited to host this event.

And that got us thinking…

So fellow CBCSports.ca colleague Malcolm Kelly decided go to weather.com and do a quick check of the temperature in Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Olympics.

Here's the answer: 15 C.

No, not –15 C. Fifteen degrees. As in early spring camping weather. As in Canadian T-shirt weather.

Here's the five-day forecast for that notably balmier Winter Olympic city:

• Saturday: Sunny, high of 15 C, low of 8.
• Sunday: Light rain, high of 13, low of 11.
• Monday: Light rain, high of 11, low of 8.
• Tuesday: Scattered showers, high of 7, low of 5.
• Wednesday: Cloudy, high of 9, low of 5.

Conclusion: If it were 2014, our skiers would be sporting beach tans. Unless they retrofit wheels on everybody's skates and skis, Sochi would be better suited for the Summer Games right now.

Charles Hamelin should definitely spruce up on his backstroke, just to be safe.

Then we decided to check out the Saturday temperatures of some of the cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics in the past few years. Turns out, the last three Olympic cities have temperatures that are only hovering around the freezing mark.

Turin, Italy, site of the 2006 Olympics, is sporting a sunny high of 3 C, and a low of –5 C. Salt Lake City, Utah, site of Canada's hockey triumph in 2002, also has a high of 3 C, with a low of –4 C, and also has a chance of flurries.

Nagano, Japan, host of the 1998 Olympics, is a little better temperature-wise. The city has a forecast high of 1 C and a low of –3 C, with a chance of flurries.

Each city would have the ability, like Vancouver, to make snow either way — you need at least –2 C to do that. But it would still be a bit dicey. Three of the four cities are expecting rain in the next five days (Salt Lake's the odd one out), and all four are forecast to hit a high of at least 5 C at one point in that span.

If you have a good memory, you'll recall that weather problems dogged all three of those Games, too, to varying degrees.

The outright winner? Lillehammer, Norway, site of the much-beloved 1994 Olympics. The town is currently at a breezy –14 C (that's the high).

Moral of the story: Every Winter Olympics should be in Lillehammer.

Alternative moral: If El Nino were a person, VANOC CEO John Furlong would find him. And punch him in the face.

Let's hope this helps nix the outcry over the weather. But if on the (very likely) chance it doesn't, here's a made-up list of things VANOC should try in order to get the weather on its side:

• Send in the Canadian air force to use a squadron of fighters to continuously fly over the Vancouver area, making passes while dumping packets of snow. This will be done to the Top Gun theme, of course.
• Find Clint Eastwood. Ask him to employ his icy stare to freeze the city. Politely ask him to stop when the temperature dips to –50 C.
• Relocate Vancouver and the Lower Mainland (yes, all of it) to Yellowknife for duration of the Olympics.
• Call a local supervillain and ask to borrow a nefarious weather machine. Ignore future consequences from imminent double-cross.

Feel free to post your ideas on what you think VANOC should try in order to get this weather thing under control. Submissions not entirely based in reality will be embraced wholeheartedly.