It has been announced that Beijing, China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The only problem is that Beijing and the mountains where the ski events will be held receive basically no snowfall. In fact, the area that will be hosting the ski events averages a snowpack of just 2 inches, making the 2022 games the first Winter Olympics to be held on 100% man-made snow. 

“The Zhangjiakou and Yanqing Zones have minimal annual snowfall and for the Games would rely completely on artificial snow. There would be no opportunity to haul snow from higher elevations for contingency maintenance to the racecourses so a contingency plan would rely on stockpiled man-made snow. Beijing 2022 presented weather data from 2014-2015 indicating a particular risk for Yanqing in terms of the quality and quantity of snow.”

So, the Chinese will be relying entirely on manmade snow that they will store in massive warehouses. To make things worse, the area is already suffering “severe water stress”, and becoming “increasingly arid”. Snow-making will draw water from established reservoirs, depleting drinking water supplies for the local residents.