Vancouver weather always a wildcard as Games near

VANCOUVER: The Canadian government will spend C$13.4 million ($12.8 million) to track one of the "world's most complex weather systems" but trying to predict what Mother Nature might do during the Vancouver Winter Olympics is a roll of the dice.

"We can train, we can install the equipment but the weather always has the last word in what happens," David Jones, Environment Canada meteorologist, said on Thursday during a briefing on preparations for the Games.

"We're subject to extreme events, we're subject to new types of weather systems we have not seen before, so we're going to try to do the best job we can to forecast the weather but it is always a challenge in this type of environment."