VANCOUVER - Thousands of airline passengers stranded. Roads impassable because of snow. Power failures by the dozen.
The last two weeks have been a winter weather nightmare for Vancouver, with huge dumps of snow followed by rain, heavy slush and flooding. All over the city, people are griping about the toll storm after storm has taken on their holiday season.
But they're asking another question, too: what if it happens during the 2010 Winter Olympics?
Vancouver airport, transit and city officials say they're using the recent storms as a learning opportunity for Games planning.
With 400,000 passengers passing through Vancouver in the last week on 5,000 flights, the present volume of traffic at the airport is very close to what it will be during the Games, said Don Ehrenholz, vice-president of operations for Vancouver International Airport.
He admitted operations weren't perfect over the last few days, but promised improvement by the time the Games start.
"In our planning for 2010 we are planning that there will be a snowstorm of a fairly large magnitude at the worst possible time -- either at the very first couple of days or the very last day or two, which is one of the more difficult times for getting people out on time," Ehrenholz said.
"We are definitely planning for those circumstances. We have already ordered a couple of extra pieces of snow-clearing equipment for 2010 and we have already been working with the airlines to improve the de-icing process . . . to improve that capacity."
The city's transit system will be different in 2010, with more buses and a new subway line that won't be affected by weather because most of it runs underground, said Ken Hardie, a spokesman for TransLink, which handles public transit in B.C.'s Lower Mainland. Car-free lanes on venue routes also means there will be less chance of snow-related traffic congestion.
The SkyTrain elevated rail system has been completely shut down in conditions far less severe than those seen in Vancouver over the last week, Hardie said.
"I understand that the type of weather that we've had over the past week or so is a one-in-10-year event," he added. "Let's hope we've gotten it out of our system for another 10 years."
Events will be divided between the area in and around Vancouver, which is known more for rain than snow, and the ski resort area of Whistler, which usually has plenty of the white stuff each winter. The communities are connected by Highway 99, also known as the Sea-to-Sky highway -- a narrow, winding route with plenty of steep hills.
Games-time weather likely won't be as severe as what's been seen over the last few weeks, said Al Wallace, regional director of Meteorological Services Canada, which is providing weather services for the 2010 Olympics.
However, "we can have heavy rains on the lower reaches of the Sea-to-Sky highway and heavy snows at Whistler," he said.
"If you think of (recent weather) and put that into February 2010, that really messes things up in terms of trying to move people and keep things secure."
Before the Beijing Summer Olympics earlier this year, Chinese authorities were so afraid of bad weather disrupting the event that they reportedly seeded clouds so there would be no rain during the opening ceremonies.
Wallace said that's not on the table for 2010, mostly because it hasn't been proven to actually work.
Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee acknowledges that while it has command over virtually every aspect of the Games, the weather is one thing it simply can't control -- even if it is one of the most critical elements of putting on a successful winter Olympics.
"It could either work with you or really work against you," said Tim Gayda, vice-president of sport for the organizing committee, known as VANOC.
"Right from the get-go, we've always planned to deal with the worst."
When the Games were awarded to Vancouver in 2003, Environment Canada and Meteorological Services were immediately brought on board by organizers.
The agency is spending about $13.4 million on weather services and other environmental initiatives for the Games. Weather stations have been installed at each venue and along the Sea-to-Sky corridor to help monitor everything from wind speed to moisture.
Among other things, VANOC and Environment Canada have been putting together "what-if" scenarios where they've taken the weather in past Februarys and used it to determine how the Games would have been affected if they were held on those days.
In addition to possible event delays, the committee found that signage and seating at outdoor venues would be severely challenged by the weight of nearly 40 centimetres of snow.
Vancouver has had about 88 centimetres of snow this month.
Some of the challenges organizers discovered were not anticipated, such as how to keep volunteer morale high when it's cold and wet.
They also need plans for mobilizing volunteers in the middle of the night to clear snow from venues.
This winter's test events will provide the final dry (or wet) test run for weather modelling.
All of the forecasters who will work at the Games will be at the test event venues providing real-time service to judges, coaches and organizers.
The events will also give organizers the chance to test transportation and spectator plans.
But planning can only take everyone so far, Gayda admitted.
While rumours abound of lucky Loonies being built into every sports venue to try to give Canadian athletes an edge, Gayda said his team has its own approach -- on top of meticulous planning.
"We just pray," he said.
