Alpine skiing-French meteorologist's lifelong cloud-watching shapes Games forecasts

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 8 - Sitting on a primary school bench in western France, Thierry Robert-Luciani would gaze at the clouds — not to daydream, but to decode them.

Driven by his early fascination with weather and a family link to Italy’s Dolomites through his paternal grandfather, the Frenchman went on to study atmospheric physics before training as a forecaster and eventually settling in the mountains.

Now 67, he serves as the meteorologist for the Alpine skiing events at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, a role shaped by decades spent reading the volatile skies above some of the sport’s most demanding slopes.

“From a very young age, around eight or nine, I was fascinated by the weather without quite realising it,” Robert-Luciani told Reuters.

“I sensed intuitively when showers were coming and constantly watched the clouds — not in a poetic way, but trying to understand what they were telling me in meteorological terms.”

Born in Brittany and initially drawn to academic research, he was steered towards operational forecasting after mentors recognised his aptitude for prediction.

That path led him to the Dolomites through an international training agency for forecasters and to an avalanche centre near Arabba, 1,600 metres above sea level in the heart of the Sella Ronda, where immersion in the high mountains refined his craft and instincts.

“To apply meteorology in the mountains, you have to understand them,” he said. “Weather there is very changeable, very volatile. Living in that environment allows you to notice the signs and make better forecasts.

“In the mountains, small-scale effects dominate,” he added. “Slope exposure, wind acceleration, thermal inversions — these are things global models don’t always resolve, so you have to interpret them locally.”

UNEXPECTED OLYMPIC APPOINTMENT

Robert-Luciani's connection with elite skiing dates back to the late 1990s, when he was first asked to produce forecasts for World Cup races in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Over nearly three decades, he has covered several men’s and women’s events each season, as well as world championships, a long trajectory that culminated in an unexpected Olympic appointment.

“It’s a surprise, a little cherry on the cake,” he said.

On race days, his contribution is brief but decisive.

He delivers a short weather briefing to team captains, race organisers and the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s race leadership before taking position on the slope to remain in direct contact should rapidly changing conditions require adjustments.

“We’re talking two or three minutes,” he said. “You explain cloud cover, wind timing, snowfall intensity — and then you hope reality follows the forecast.”

Sometimes it does not and Robert-Luciani said he needed to dig deep to get his groove back.

"I try to send a positive message. It's important for the teams and the skiers, but also for me, to regain my confidence," he explained.

If the conditions are not those he shared Robert-Luciani makes another assessment, using Synergie, an operational meteorological workstation developed by Meteo-France that integrates satellite imagery, numerical weather prediction data, observations and forecasting tools into a single interface.

He then shares it with the race jury, who can decide whether the race is interrupted or cancelled.

MONITORING FORECAST MODELS

Preparation begins the previous evening with close monitoring of rapidly updating forecast models — known as Rapid Update Cycles — and continues before dawn.

“At 6:30 in the morning, the first thing I do is check how the model has evolved — whether it’s stable or changing,” he said. “I integrate that information and then head straight to the finish area with the officials.

“These rapid-update cycles allow us to detect last-minute shifts,” he added. “In alpine skiing, a temperature change of one degree or a wind rotation of a few degrees can affect snow behaviour and safety decisions.”

In a sport where outcomes are measured in hundredths of a second and schedules hinge on shifting mountain skies, Robert-Luciani’s lifelong habit of studying clouds — formed on a classroom bench decades ago — now helps determine whether Olympic races in the Dolomites proceed as planned. REUTERS