Snow depth prediction game | One more to go!

Weather stations take'it exactly

The number one source of information is, of course, the current snow depth measurement data from automatic weather stations on the relevant avalanche warning service portals: For Austria this is lawis.at, for Switzerland the data can be found on slf.ch.

But this data should also be used with a certain amount of caution! They represent point measurements, but they are very accurate. Depending on the location of the measuring station, the measured values are more or less transferable to the surrounding area. In general: snow depths are measured in flat areas, in places that are exposed to as little wind as possible. Accordingly, there is less snow on sunny slopes in the surrounding area and usually more snow on north-facing slopes. It can also be helpful to compare the current snow depth with the seasonal average. For example, the Swiss stations show the maximum, minimum and average snow depth of the station in the annual view.

Snow depth maps are derived and interpolated from the measured station values. In some cases, snow distribution models are also calculated. Such maps are currently available from SLF for Switzerland, from Lawinen.Report for the Eureg region (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino, partly Salzburg) and throughout the Alps via the portal MySnowmaps.com, and from next season PowderGuide.com will of course also have the tried and tested SnowGrid maps again.

Webcams show's local

If you want to see how much snow there is or how the snow is distributed across the terrain, webcams with up-to-date photos are of course second to none. A Google search is usually enough to find the relevant cameras. A collection of alpine webcams can be found at Bergfex. High-resolution webcams can be found at foto-webcam.eu. And, of course, the webcams of the ski resorts, the high-altitude pass roads and, in some cases, the Alpine Club huts are also useful. It is practical if the webcams have an archive so that you can search for days with the best viewing conditions, or to get information on new snowfall and snow/rain limits.

Satellites are for the rough stuff

Thanks to the European ESA satellite series "Sentinel", high-resolution images and additional products from the remote sensing sector are available almost daily. A practical viewer of satellite data with a search function is the Sentinel-hub. For skiers, the images from Sentinel 2 are probably the most relevant, and of these the data set L2A - the orthorectified Bottom-Of-Atmosphere Reflectance. Simply select a time period in the search field, select Sentinel 2 and L2A and the aerial images will be displayed. You just have to hope that the overflight took place on a day with as few clouds as possible... Further derived products can now be selected in the Visualization tab: The true colour image (True Color) is intended for the human eye, pixels classified as snow can be found under NDSI (Normalized Difference Snow Index) and the Agriculture Index helps to differentiate between snow and ice clouds.

At the moment it's still going quite well

If you are currently starting below 2200m, you may be carrying your skis quite a bit. Above that, however, it becomes skiable with a clever choice of route on the summer snow fields. Above around 2500m, there is enough snow in northern exposures. Above that and on the glaciers there is still a lot, and there is always more to come. For example, around the Gross Glockner on 25/26 May, around 30cm fell.

Experienced PG readers know how long there will be snow at this altitude thanks to the snow depth prediction game. One last tip runs until next Tuesday: when will the manual snow depth measurement on the Weißfluhjoch above Davos be completed for the 2019/2020 season, i.e. when will the measurement field be free of snow? As always, post your tips in the forum. Have fun!