Wind Forecasting for the Sailing Events at the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Abstract

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology was the official provider of weather services for the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The sailing events took place on Sydney Harbor and an offshore area adjacent to the harbor entrance. The forecasting of surface winds for the Sydney region presented a complex problem. The regional topography is intricate, and accurate wind forecasting at the 1-km scale for the harbor was beyond the resolution of Australian operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. A range of statistical products was developed to supplement the NWP output in an attempt to account for small-scale wind variations due to terrain and local sea?harbor breeze circulations. Significant effort was spent on facilitating athletes' and coaches' access to weather information, particularly through the Bureau of Meteorology Internet site. A team of meteorologists from around Australia was assigned the task of interpreting the output of an array of NWP and statistical models. The forecasters provided weather advice to regatta organizers, and other users, over a range of time scales.