Website Wednesday: OpenSnow.com

Trying to decipher how the weather forecast will affect your favorite ski mountain can be an exercise in frustration. Whether it’s the local news reducing an extremely varied geographic area down to the single phrase “Snow in the high country,” or an official snow report which doesn’t seem to match up to the conditions on the mountain, it seems almost impossible to get accurate weather data for ski mountains. This seems counter-intuitive, as weather is perhaps the single most important factor in determining when you want to go skiing, and where you should go.

OpenSnow.com is the best ski weather website I have ever come across.

OpenSnow has real meteorologists on staff who love skiing and live in the areas they forecast. Their written reports are specifically tailored for each ski resort in a region, and they update their guidance every twelve to twenty-four hours, meaning you never have to extrapolate from outdated information.

As my father always says, “You can’t predict the weather.” Even trained meteorologists can be wrong, and you can’t take the OpenSnow forecast as gospel. However, this outfit is very good at what they do: offering some of the most reliable, tailored ski weather forecasts in the world.

Worth a visit when you’re planning your next ski trip.

ALSO WORTH A VISIT: Zrankings.com, a website I have recently begun contributing content to. Zrankings aggregates big-picture resort data, such as how much snowfall can be expected in an average year. A good tool for those who may be looking to travel beyond their local mountain. There will be a more detailed Website Wednesday post about zRankings when I get more acquainted with their content and ethos.

In the meantime, pray for snow.