On February 17, the 14th National Winter Games of the People's Republic of China opened in Inner Mongolia, China.

What climatic conditions is Inner Mongolia endowed with for hosting ice and snow events?

Zalantun race site. Photographed by JIN Miao

Located in northern China with a temperate continental monsoon climate, Inner Mongolia features along and cold winter that provides climatic conditions for ice and snow sports, especially inits sub-regions like Daxinganling and Hulunbuir, where the annual snowfall period is as long as 7 months, and the snow depth as high as 55 cm. Jinlongshan Ski Resort, Zhalantun, Hulunbuir-- the main venue for the snow events of the said Games, boasts a snow storage period of more than 5 months, and an effective skiing period of up to 130 days, making itself one of the best snow resorts in China for its length and quality in snow.

Meanwhile, snow sport events are demanding for natural geographical conditions. Inner Mongolia is characterized by a variety of topographic conditions and land-forms, with magnificent mountains towering in the east strewn with vast grasslands and low hills, and withthe Yinshan Mountains standing in the middle as a natural barrier, with canyons and rivers meandering through them. The difference in altitudemakes anexcellent site for skiing.

Liangcheng Ski Resort, the venue for cross-country skiing competitions, is located on the northern slope of Wofo Mountain in Ulanqab City, at the north latitude between 40° and 42°, a location in the circle that is internationally recognized as the most suitable for skiing.And the highest elevation of 2100m at its summit makes a trail or piste of 500m drop.

In addition to the unique climatic and geographic conditions, weather services are essential for the safe and smooth operation of an event.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Meteorological Service (hereinafter referred to as the Service) has independently developed five meteorological forecasting technologies including Inner Mongolia 1 kilometer numerical weather prediction (NWP) system (Ruitu for short), the sub-100-to-60m site-scale numerical simulation, the event-specific high-impact weather ensemble forecast, the track-oriented Mutual Information Feature Selection (MIFS) based on deep learning,and the fastidious and objective race field-oriented snow service forecasting.

Besides, the Service has locallyharnessed the proven meteorological achievements of Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Gamesby introducing the AI-based multi-method integrated forecasting technology of Beijing Municipal Meteorological Observatory and the deep learning-based site-integrated forecasting method of National Meteorological Centre (NMC). Furthermore, it has developed its own microwave radiometer data display platform, which automatically displays the profiles of temperature, humidity and other elements in real time, effectively ramping up forecasts.

The ground-based remote sensing vertical observation system.

The Service has also deployed altogether 6 weather radars, 29 automatic weather stations (AWSs), 2 laser wind radars, 4 radiation stations, 1 microwave radiometer and 1 ground-based remote sensing vertical observation system across the zone as a safeguard.

Editor: JIANG Zhiqing