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Siberian wind stealing Olympic headlines

You can thank Siberia for the weather troubles in PyeongChang. Here's why.

There has been plenty of drama from the athletes in PyeongChang, but the strong winds are stealing some headlines as well.

Forty to 50 mph winds during much of the first week of the 2018 Winter Olympics, have delayed events, postponed others, and have even caused some Olympians to complain about the winds causing a competitive imbalance.

PyeongChang (37.3705° N) is not one of the more northern locations for the Winter Games. Even Denver, Colorado (39.7392° N) is a few degrees further north, but there are some climate features that make that area of South Korea colder on average.

Siberia is a part of Russia that's northwest of Korea and it's well known for having extremely cold winters.

In the winter, which is about the same time as ours in the U.S., cold air settles near the surface in Siberia. This creates an area of high pressure. It's a climate feature called the Siberian High. The air circulates the region in a clockwise direction, and on the eastern side of that circulation, cold Siberian air gets pulled down from the north, often right into Korea.

When this combines with jet stream air above it, also getting pulled from the north and northwest, it creates very cold, windy, and mostly dry conditions. This has been happening for the first few days of the 2018 Olympics.

PyeongChang is not only a little further south than Denver, but it is also lower. Yongpyong Resort, or Dragon Valley, where a lot of the Alpine events are being held, is only 4,783 ft above sea level. Compare that to the steps of the Capitol building in Denver which is 5,280 ft. Or Peak 8 in Breckenridge which is 12,840 ft.

Despite being further south, and lower in elevation, PyeongChang is a much colder place than Denver on average.

The average high temperature in PyeongChang in February is 31 degrees. Denver's average February high is 49 degrees. The average low in PyeongChang is 13 degrees, compared to 21 degrees in Denver.

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