Sochi Snow Woes Seen from Space
Feb. 14, 2014— -- The warm weather in Sochi and some slushy snow has led to heated debate at the Winters Olympics where shirtless swimmers were spotted on a beach in the coastal city -- not a typical sight for the Winter Games.
New satellite images give a better picture of just how much snow coverage there is in the mountains above Sochi, zooming in on the Rosa Khutar ski resort,the site of the ski and snowboarding events.
The head of the International Olympics Committee told the BBC in an interview published today that while warm weather in the mountains was posing some challenges, he has confidence in Olympics organizers' backup plans.
Those contingency plans consist of a massive snow-making operation and tons and tons of snow stored under tarps since last winter.
The president and CEO of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, told ABC News on Wednesday that no stored snow has been used since the Games began.
MORE: Sochi's Olympic Snow Stored Under Tarps Since Last Winter
Kirit Radia and Gina Sunseri contributed reporting to this article.
