JoshK Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 anybody else noticed hat the mt baker ski area has a way of "dressing up" their snow forecasts? Baker's Site: GREAT NEWS! LOTS OF SNOW AND COLD TEMPERATURES ARE FORECASTED FOR THIS WEEK! Forecasts are calling for the warm spell to end tonight, and we expect to have 2 to 3 inches of new snow on the ground with 3,000 foot freezing levels for opening Monday morning, followed by approximately 10 inches of new snow for Tuesday with freezing levels dropping to 2,000 feet. We will be operating out of both base areas in Holiday operation. NOAA foecast for Baker Ski Area Monday: Rain before 10am, then snow showers. Temperature falling to around 17 by 2pm. South southwest wind between 11 and 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. Monday Night: Snow showers. Low around 15. South southwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. Tuesday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 23. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Tuesday Night: A 30 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17. South southwest wind around 6 mph. Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 24. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 15. Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 29. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26. Christmas Day: Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Quote
AJScott Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 yes they do! I also heard they made a substantial donation to nwac (rad) but now they have advertisements on the website and I hope they keep they information accurate there as well! A snow report can be the deciding factor for a family to come up skiing. so fudging the report a little is pretty common practice, but i hope they keep it out of nwac! Quote
JoshK Posted December 21, 2009 Author Posted December 21, 2009 Yeah this isn't the first time I've noticed it, it seems they like to spruce it up a lot, I just was bored enough late last night when reading it to post. It seems a tad bit, what's the word..."Coloradoish" to exagerate snow reports, esp. when you are mt. baker, no need to exagerate. Quote
wolfs Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 Well, let's treat this as a test case and see what happens ... already 3" on telemetry. If you deconstruct, they actually have two statements. 1. FORECASTERS predict cooling temps. 2. WE predict up to 10". The NWAC or NOAA don't predict microclime. Baker knows how their snow-happy microclimate reacts to particular wind angles and moisture streams better than anyone, so it's not necessarily so bald-faced CO-ish for them to predict more than the extrapolated zonal forecast. But .... the proof shall be in the telemetry eh? Quote
JoshK Posted December 22, 2009 Author Posted December 22, 2009 Well, what they said was from last night, 1" - 3" by opening. When I checked their report at 11am they said it was still raining, but the snow level was coming down. I know i'm being a nit picker, and I don't really think they are lying or anything, I've just noticed their overly polished up forecasts before. Definitely not CO-oish. True CO-ish is measuring the accumulation in some pile next to the ski patrol shack and calling that the actual snowfall. Quote
AlpineK Posted December 22, 2009 Posted December 22, 2009 The ski areas in CO have to cheat. The typical early winter patterns call for cold temps and snow. That's all true. What they don't tell folks is the wind is usually pumping at and to the east of the Rocky Mountain crest during that period (November - January). High winds tend to blow the snow away They also create some sketchy windslabs and thus sketchy avy hazard. Quote
curtveld Posted December 22, 2009 Posted December 22, 2009 when you are mt. baker, no need to exagerate. Oh sure, Baker gets plenty of precip - it's the fluffy-ness that needs occasional fluffing. The temp is hard to spin, so they report what it was early in the morning, usually at its low for the day. But seriously, why take their word for it when you can check this? Quote
Pilchuck71 Posted December 22, 2009 Posted December 22, 2009 I worked up at the mountain last Winter and always got a kick out of the report. My personal favorite is "Packed Powder". I think all areas fudge a bit on the reports in an effort to bring in the $. Quote
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