Posted: 11/25/2008 5:37 PM ()
It’s that time of year again, I wake up every morning and hit all the weather sites looking for a forecast that is promising for snowmaking. You wouldn’t believe the variations in forecasts for the same area! My favorite sites are the KELO TV weather page, AccuWeather.com and the National Weather Service Forecast from Sioux Falls. Essentially what we are looking for to start the process is overnight temps of 20 degrees and lower. But wait you say, water freezes at 32 degrees, why can’t you make snow when the temps fall below freezing? Well, we could but the quality of the snow would be poor and the quantity would be small. Keep this in mind, it costs BIG BUCKS to make snow, ie. 3 guys to work, lots of electricity, 500 gallons per minute of water and snow inducer at $1000 per case. Some other little known facts are that at this time of year the coldest part of the night tends to come at about 5am, and the humidity is still pretty high (we like to see relative humidity’s below 80%). But hey, we are as anxious to open as you guys are so whenever we can, we’ll be making snow! Wouldn’t it be nice if Mother Nature were to help!?!?!?!
