The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off without weather headaches. But that hasn't always been the case, including the second ever winter games almost 100 years ago.
This year's 25th Winter Olympic Games kicked off without any weather problems in northern Italy.
But on Feb. 11, 1928, 98 years ago today, the opening ceremonies of the second winter games took place in whiteout conditions in St. Moritz, Switzerland, only 75 miles northeast of Milan.
According to olympics.com, 1,200 officials and athletes were part of the opening ceremony as snow fell that Saturday.
That's not unusual in February for this mountain resort town at just under 6,000 feet elevation. They average about 100 inches of snow a year, almost 39 inches of which typically fall in the second month of the year.
However, that year, the weather took a strange turn.
Just a few days later, temperatures skyrocketed to 77 degrees, according to olympics.com. Soon after that, rain fell.
That forced the cancellation of some events, including 10,000 meter speed skating. It also reduced the bobsled competition from four legs to two. The melting snow made a mess of the 50km cross-country skiing competition as well.
Despite this, St. Moritz would host the 1948 Winter Olympics, known as the "Games of Renewal" following a 12-year hiatus during World War II.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Category: General Sports
