Climate of Sochi
This year the Winter Olympics will be held in
Sochi area , a Russian city of over 300,000 inhabitants located on the
north-eastern coast of the Black Sea. The coastal area has a typical sea side climate while , just Southeast of it,
the Caucasus Mountains extend itself, with peaks exceeding abundantly the 2000 m in altitude in the
Krasnaya Polyana - Rosa Kuthor area where most of the Olympic competitions will take place.
But from the climatic point of view how it appears the Sochi area in this period of the year? Obviously there is a
great climatic difference because of the altitude, but in a geographical area that extends
only to about 50 kilometers.
The climate of the urban area of Sochi, despite the Russian hinterland,
is heavily influenced by the presence of the Black Sea, which greatly mitigates the temperatures in winter, in facts as extremes for maximum temperatures we found
23.8 °C in February and 29.5° °C in March..
| Parameter |
February |
March |
Mean temperature
|
5.6 °C |
7.8 °C |
Mean precipitation amount
|
126 mm |
117 mm |
Mean wind
|
3.3 m/s |
3.0 m/s |
Climate of coastal area of Sochi
As for the mountainous area in the hinterland, the climate varies considerably across the area at the foot of plants located in Krasnaya Polyana (566 m above sea level) and the highest part of Rosa Kuthor (2225 m). In fact the wind is pretty weak in the foot, while at high altitudes is stronger even than coastal area winds, with maximum absolute value in March that reached the 50 m/s (= 180 km/h). Vice versa Krasnaya Polyana area has an average precipitation accumulation that exceeds those of the mountains and the coast, due to the favorable exposure to humid currents coming from the Black Sea.
| Parameter |
February |
March |
Mean temperature
|
1.6 °C
|
4.7 °C
|
Mean precipitation amount
|
171 mm
|
165 mm
|
Mean wind
|
1.1 m/s
|
1.3 m/s
|
Climate of Krasnaya Polyana area
Parameter
|
February
|
March
|
Mean temperature
|
-8.2 °C
|
-7.9 °C
|
Mean precipitation amount
|
134 mm
|
149 mm
|
Mean wind
|
5.2 m/s
|
5.2 m/s
|
Climate of Rosa Kuthor area
Datameteo presents the new web portal dedicated to weather forecast for Sochi 2014.
Due to the high climate variability, to obtain reliable forecasts in this geographical area of Russia are required
high resolution modeling techniques that are used daily by Datameteo
worldwide.
www.sochi-weather.com portal dedicated to Winter Olympics games shows an overview of the various meteorological products provided by Datameteo. An initial introductory page highlights with a glance the
real-time weather conditions obtained from the meteorological station located in Sochi city and
daily forecasts for the next few days. In addition with a very innovative graphics level there are two very useful applications such as a
map of alert for extreme events and the snow meteogram. For those who want to know more about each theme, sections have been created that allow you to view additional details.
In the Current section, other than a list of more detailed parameters regarding the conditions observed at the time in Sochi, there are other very useful observation tools such as a radar installed on site, allowing you to identify areas where there are ongoing rainfall and which intensity they occur within 125 kilometers, and an animation of satellite images that shows the movement of clouds over the entire area around the Black Sea.
If you are interested in detailed forecasts about for the next few days, the Weather section shows you our classic numerical model forecasts of Sochi into a novel and original graphic, with predictions of up to 6 days starting from today.
The Alert section instead shows an innovative technology, which combines in a unique map the main extreme conditions (cold, wind and intense precipitation) that might occur in the Black Sea region, as a synthesis of the forecasts obtained by high-resolution modeling (WRF), which is able to represent more detailed weather situations that occur in spatial and temporal local scales.
For those who are interested in the expected weather conditions in areas where competitions will take place, the Snow section shows another product very useful for mountain lovers: the Snow meteogram. In one graphic are enclosed information regarding:
- temperature trends at various heights from the reference height in the selected location,
- the amount and type of precipitation expected
- the presence of dry or melted snow expected on the ground .
All for every hour
This process is also achieved by high-resolution models, and since the affected area extends in elevation to over 1500 metres, we chose a representative point situated at about 1900 m above sea level.
Finally a News section dedicated to extra-meteorological news related to the main event completes the picture of tools available for who wants to be informed about everything related to the Olympics.
