Forecasting for Powder Skiing/Snowboarding

[David Williams]

Hey Chasers,
Do we have any powder chasers in the ST community? I've been getting into powder chasing as I'm a long-time snowboarder and have only discovered the magic of deep powder in the last few years.

Does anyone have any tips or know of any tutorials for forecasting powder? I've tried my hand at it with mixed success, and with a background in severe weather forecasting, it doesn't seamlessly translate over to powder forecasting. The info I've found online is very general and I'm looking for more of a deep dive into powder forecasting so I can get proficient.

Also, does anyone know how to get a zoomed in view of Japan on Pivotal weather? I've cycled through all the long-range models to find an East Asia map to forecast for going to Japan next week, but all I can find is the continental Asia map.

Thanks!

 

[James K]

Not a skier or boarder & deff not in any way a weather pro. .lol.
But one thing to look at is the SLR (Snow-Liquid Ratio)... the lower the SLR, the wetter & more 'sticky' the snow will be (if you're a kid building snowmen, you want a low SLR because the snow will stick together better!)
The higher the SLR, the drier & more powdery the snow will be (a high SLR will result in snow thats useless for snowman-building because it will not stick together, but its great for skiers who love powder).
A SLR of 10:1 is average (10" snow = 1" water) take something lower say 5:1 & you'll have good heavy/wet snow, and 15:1 you'll have much lighter/drier snow. (those numbers used as example only)

The other thing to look would be DGZ (Denderatic Growth Zone).. My understanding with this is the larger the DGZ, the larger the flakes (note: snowflakes can also stick together to form those jumbo flakes - thats more related to SLR than just DGZ - wetter flakes will have more tendency to stick together if they hit eachother while falling)

 

[Bob Schafer]

This probably won't tell you anything you don't already know, but colder temps yield better powder. I did a lot of skiing.

 

[gdlewen]

Hey Chasers,
Do we have any powder chasers in the ST community? I've been getting into powder chasing as I'm a long-time snowboarder and have only discovered the magic of deep powder in the last few years.


Also, does anyone know how to get a zoomed in view of Japan on Pivotal weather? I've cycled through all the long-range models to find an East Asia map to forecast for going to Japan next week, but all I can find is the continental Asia map.

Thanks!

RE: Japan weather.

Is the site below what you're looking for? The JMA site has a lot of cool stuff, what with their vulnerability to tsunamis and earthquakes. (https://www.jma.go.jp). Not going to try and edit the URL for surface analysis so it is not rendered into Japanese.

Surface Analysis

気象庁｜天気図 www.jma.go.jp

 

[David Williams]

So I've been trying to figure out about the dendritic growth Zone and it's influence on snowflake formation. From what I have found on soundings the dendritic growth zone is between negative 12C and -17c. My assumption is that if precipitation is forming in that level of the atmosphere then it will grow the most optimal snowflakes, dendritic snowflakes, for powder skiing. I haven't really seen much online to confirm or deny this so I was hoping for someone to fill in that little mystery for me. Also as Bob pointed out colder temperatures make for better snow. But from what I understand if it's too cold it will actually create snow that is just as undesirable as snow created with temperatures that are too warm. Again I'm not exactly sure about this but I'm hoping to get some clarification. Thanks