LAKE PLACID, N.Y. –  The Lake Placid Olympic Museum is excited to announce the opening of its new exhibit, Foretelling the Future – The National Weather Service at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games on December 18 for the winter season. 

In 1980, there was a small team of meteorologists working tirelessly to give accurate and timely weather warnings and forecasts to ensure a safe and successful Olympic Winter Games for Lake Placid.  The new exhibit will take a look at how the National Weather Service Olympic Support Unit’s weather forecasts and warnings impacted everyone at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. 

“To most of us watching the Winter Olympics, the focus is on the thrill of the competition, but there is so much going on behind the scenes.  This fun, new exhibit allows one to explore how weather impacts spectators, athletes, and organizers and how crucial forecasts are during the Olympics,” said museum director, Alison Haas.

The exhibit itself will feature the meteorologists who worked during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games: Jack May, Steve Harned, Gordon Tait, Doc Taylor, and intern John Kelley.  Visitors can go on location and report a weather forecast, make weather observations by viewing live weather radar data and other information from NOAA compiled from the Atmospheric Science Research Center at Whiteface Mountain, explore the impacts of weather on the Games, see on display weather equipment used during the Olympics, and photographs from the 1980 Lake Placid Games.  

The exhibit is a partnership between the National Ocean Service's Coast Survey Development Laboratory, the National Weather Service's Weather Forecast Office in Burlington, Vermont, and the Lake Placid Olympic Museum.  The project is funded by NOAA Heritage Program and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. 

The Lake Placid Olympic Museum is located at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York.  It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Call 518-302-5326 or email museum@orda.org for further information.

For immediate Release: 12/16/19

Contact: Alison Haas, Museum Manager

Phone: 518-302-5326

Email: museum@orda.org

 -- Lake Placid Olympic Museum --

Located in the Olympic Center and operated by the Olympic Regional Development Authority, the mission of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum is to tell the world about the Olympic movement and Lake Placid’s rich winter sports’ history in order to promote the values of Olympism to the broadest possible audience.  The museum and its collections is governed by the Lake Placid Olympic Museum board of trustees and is a 501 c3 corporation.  For more information about the museum, visit: www.lpom.org.