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The last two weeks have been a winter nightmare for Vancouver, 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. Thousands of airline passengers stranded. Roads impassable because of snow. Power failures by the dozen. They’re also asking another question: What if this happens during the 2010 Winter Olympics?

“In our planning for the 2010 Winter Olympics, 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,” Don Ehrenholz stated, vice president of operations for Vancouver International Airport.

There are also the challenges of keeping volunteers’ morale high when it’s cold and wet and 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) run for weather issues. All the forecasters who will work at the games will be at the test-event venues assisting judges, coaches and organizers. But planning can go only so far. Tim Gayda, vice president of sport for the organizing committee, known as VANOC, said his team has its own approach, on top of meticulous planning.

“We just pray,” he said.