Chris Bedford, chief meteorologist at Sailing Weather Services, first assisted the US Sailing Team in 1989 when he traveled to Barcelona to better map the conditions for the ‘92 Summer Olympics.  Bedford accompanied the Team to the ‘91 Olympic test event and ‘92 Olympic Regatta, briefing the sailors each morning before racing, and reviewing weather factors with them at the end of the day, a role he repeated as the Team prepared and participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics. His work with the US Sailing Team has continued through both the ‘97-2000 and ’01-2004 quadrenniums as he provides the sailors with daily weather data at international competitions and the Olympic Games. His first job after college was forecasting for Dennis Conner’s 1987 Stars and Stripes team in Fremantle, Australia. Since then he has worked on every America’s Cup as a team meteorologist.  Here he gives his overview of weather for the upcoming Olympic Regatta in Athens.

Stiff international competition isn’t the only challenge our sailors will face in Athens.  Complex and extreme environmental conditions will challenge the skills and patience of the most accomplished Olympian. Extreme heat and winds ranging from strong and shifty to light and fluky make for race courses filled with pot holes which can quickly change anyone’s fortunes.

The courses for the Olympic Regatta are located in the Saronic Gulf, just south of Athens and in view of the historic Parthenon – an area renowned for its tricky winds. The most famous and dramatic wind is a strong, hot northeasterly breeze known as The Meltemi. This wind blows out of the mountains north and northeast of Athens, bringing daytime temperatures over 100 degrees along with wind gusts in excess of 30 knots. The Meltemi can last from several days to a week. This offshore breeze is by no means consistent. Random shifts and sudden surges of wind are common when the Meltemi is in force.

The antidote for the Meltemi is the sea breeze, but these are often light and very shifty along the complex coastline of Athens. Sea breezes can have a hard time overpowering Meltemi flows, and great battles sometimes result with sea breezes on one course while gusting Meltemi winds blow on another.

When sea breezes develop, they can blow from the west, southwest, south or southeast depending on the weather pattern presented on any given day. It is quite common for a west/southwest sea breeze in the morning to transition to a southerly sea breeze in the afternoon and a southeasterly sea breeze in the late afternoon. Understanding where one is in the long sea breeze cycle is key to improving chances of placing well in a fleet race.

Although rare, thunderstorms can add “excitement” to the action on the racecourse. With a sea breeze blowing, large, billowing thunderstorm clouds can develop over the mountains and hills north and east of the course areas. When upper atmospheric winds are blowing just right, these storms will move onto the courses with briefly strong winds gusts followed by long periods of calm and variable wind.

Strong competition, challenging winds and extreme temperatures will certainly make sure our athletes have their hands full during the Athens’s Olympic Regatta.