Getting a feel for snow news

Even the best laid ski holiday plans can turn foul because of weather. But the web can help.

First up, make sure there is snow. At www.snow-forecast.com there are rather complicated looking weather maps which predict snow conditions two to three days ahead.

The raw weather forecast data comes from the United States National Weather Service.

How does the site predict snow ?

"By estimating the temperature on the surface (represented by a 1km digital elevation model) using lapse rates derived from pressure and temperature data.

"Snowfall is predicted wherever this same model forecasts precipitation falling onto ground that is expected to be below freezing on the basis of its altitude and the lapse rate at that point."

Glad we got that worked out.

The maps do take a bit of figuring out - but the colour coding helps and if you're obsessed with snow, this site is a must.

It also gives detailed forecasts for resorts all over the world.

I was please to see Friday's forecast for Mt Hutt was for a "dusting of snow (2cm) over the next 72 hours."

But you can't beat seeing snow conditions with your own eyes.

Thanks to web cams, you virtually can. There's something surreal about peering through an internet window onto a mountainscape.

On Friday Mt Hutt, while looking good, clearly needed more dustings.

By Sunday, from what the snow cam showed - a blur of white - the field was getting a major dump.

For more conditions detail and which facilities are operating, www.snowreports.co.nz provides up to date data on 12 fields.

Even better is www.snow.co.nz/snowreports/index.htm. Reports and an up to date web cam picture appear on the one page.

Also, you can get text message snow reports sent to your mobile phone.

The free, brief mountain forecasts at the Met Service site are indeed brief. For more detail, you pay.

There is also some darned useful local weather data at the Herald's weather site.

For excess detail, try The Daily Shred weather link - where snow fanatics "check, browse and anticipate powder days, bad days, and whatever else they think they can do with this knowledge."

And, would-be meteorologists can find stunning Nasa Global Hydrology and Climate Center weather satellite pictures.

Links:


snow-forecast

Snowcam

Snow Reports

snow.co.nz Weather report

MetService mountain forecast

NZ Herald weather

The Daily Shred