The snow report is a magical communication concoction: it’s information with a touch of safety messaging, a hint of sales and marketing, and a sprinkle of personality and entertainment. Mix it all together, and bam! You’ve got a snow report souffle.

As that recipe suggests, for the purposes of this article (and for many, if not most, ski areas) the term “snow report” refers to more than just snow totals—it also includes, at least, the day’s weather forecast, surface conditions, open trails (and which ones are groomed), and lift schedule. It’s an amalgamation of data and information that helps guests prepare for a day on the hill. 

Behind every good snow report is a person or team of people, and to be a part of that team is a gift. I speak from experience. Despite the wicked early mornings, being a snow reporter was the best job I’ve ever had. (At 22, I didn’t like coffee but relied on it to get that oh-so-peppy snow phone voice.) A good snow reporter understands the importance of the role, and takes pride in it. 

When was the last time you thought about your snow report, though? I mean, really thought about it. What are you reporting, and to whom? How are you getting your information? How are you delivering it? What is your snow report’s voice? Is it a clean cut, high and tight with bare minimum info? Or does it present more as a mullet, with surface conditions up front and après promotions in the back? How are you leveraging technology, from on-snow hardware to artificial intelligence? 

We spoke to a few resorts from different regions to learn how they’re doing it. Here’s what we discovered.

Snow Reporting Processes

The snow reporting process necessarily varies from mountain to mountain, but there are also lots of similarities.

Beech Mountain, N.C. As should be the case for all ski areas, accuracy is crucial to Beech Mountain in North Carolina, where the weather can be especially fickle and a large share of guests are newbies or occasional participants. “People rely on our reports—guests, media outlets, and customers—and we take that responsibility seriously,” says marketing director Talia Freeman. 

So seriously that patrol director Michael Stanford is the resort’s snow reporter, taking care of the entire process—from measuring snow depth to updating the website data and writing a narrative covering events, snowmaking, and conditions. Stanford is rarely off during the winter, but Freeman says several members of the management team are trained in the process, too.

“The snow report goes live on our website at 7:30 a.m. and is streamed live through an RSS feed to our ticket booths,” says Freeman. “We also display the report on TVs around the resort. For those who prefer it, we offer a voice recording of the report, which still has a surprisingly loyal following.” 

White Pass, Wash. Andy Mahre, snow reporter at White Pass in Washington—a 1,400-acre ski area that averages 400 inches of snow a year—is also predominantly a one-man band in the mornings, which typically begin no later than 4:30 a.m. 

Much of the process is done remotely. From home, Mahre analyzes weather reports, reviews NWAC weather station info, records summit and base temps, snow accumulation per hour (and 24- and 36-hour totals), wind speed and direction, etc. He then calls White Pass snowcat operators for on-site observations. “The weather stations tend to be close to accurate, but not always perfect, so first-hand information is important,” says Mahre. 

After double-checking the weather forecast on NOAA, he inputs all the collected information to the resort’s website and mobile app, records a 60-second audio clip with conditions, events, and info to send to local radio stations by 5:30 a.m., sends a conditions email to an opt-in email list, and, finally, posts a social media story with an overview of the conditions—all before driving to the mountain, where he updates the snow report throughout the day as needed to reflect any operational changes that occur.

The daily email, which also includes pertinent marketing info, is the biggest lift, says Mahre, “because it takes thought to write with personality instead of fairly simple data input.” 

The written narrative on the website varies in length and detail depending on the conditions. “When conditions are good—say, a good powder day—it’s easy for the data to speak for itself,” he says. “When we haven’t had snow for a while or conditions are more challenging, I tend to lean more into narrative-based reporting,” which includes details like trail recommendations based on snowcat operator reports.

Nub’s Nob, Mich., general manager Ben Doornbos likes to write the ski area’s snow reports himself “so that I’m the one to own the message for the day,” he says. “The snow report is a great way for me to communicate to our skiers, but it’s also a tool for our frontline employees to use when interacting at places like the ticket window and rental counter.”

Doornbos starts with an early morning ride on a snowmobile well before lifts open to check out the conditions across the ski area’s 53 trails and 243 acres of terrain. New snow is measured in the same location every time. After inputting the data to the website and crafting some written comments, the snow report is typically released 90 to 120 minutes prior to the lifts opening. 

At Arizona Snowbowl, a member of the grooming team checks for new snowfall at the designated snow stake by 5 a.m., and a member of patrol checks the same spot later in the morning. Both groomers and patrol use an email template that includes the amount of snow, the name of the person who checked it, and the time it was checked, to communicate information to the snow reporting team. The snow reporting team can also reference the grooming plan, which it receives by 4 p.m. the preceding day.

The data is recorded and updated on the website, SnoCountry, and Onthesnow by 6 a.m. “An email to some of our stakeholders also goes out as of 6 a.m., with a short synopsis of the snow totals, weather for the day, road conditions, and a PDF that lays out all open and groomed/ungroomed trails,” says marketing manager Angie Grubb. Additionally, as at White Pass, the Snowbowl snow reporter records an audio synopsis of the report and sends it to local radio stations for them to play in the mornings. 

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Wyo., provides daily and accurate snow reports with a personal touch using a team of snow reporters. “We pull data from the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center (BTAC), which operates several snow study plots around the mountain,” says director of communications Eric Seymour. “The snow reporters at JHMR compile this data daily, starting at 5:30 a.m., and post updates to our website, app, email, social media, and other snow reporting platforms like SnoCountry.”

There are a few resorts that have the luxury of keeping great snow reporters around for years, and JHMR is one of them. “Jeff Leger (aka “Lege,” pronounced “ledge”), our lead snow reporter, is a beloved and well-known skier at JHMR,” says Seymour. “Lege has the unique ability to take raw data and transform it into engaging snow reports, keeping users coming back day after day to read or listen to his updates.” Leger has been JHMR’s snow reporter for about 16 years.

This balance of essential facts with an entertaining touch makes JHMR’s snow reports some of the resort’s most sought-after content. “Whether guests are here in Jackson Hole or abroad, they check our snow report daily to stay updated on the latest conditions and see what Lege has to say,” says Seymour.

Joel Gratz, founding meteorologist at OpenSnow, appreciates JHMR’s comprehensive and human approach to snow reporting. “I think Eldora and Jackson Hole are two examples where the snow report / communications team does an excellent job at providing near real-time updates on their website as conditions are changing (lift closures, parking issues, etc.),” says Gratz, adding, “Written—not data—updates by a human as things change, in near real-time, are so important.” 

Using Tech

When it comes to technology, some are marrying hardware and software to better their snow report with transparency. And some are cozying up to the robots, exploring how AI can better streamline the snow reporting process. 

Snow depth. Wachusett Mountain in Massachusetts leverages snow-depth monitoring technology on its snowcats to create live heat maps showing how much snow is on the trails. 

From an operations perspective, this tool helps plan for snowmaking, grooming, and weather events. It’s also a great tool for marketing and communications—the transparency of sharing a visual of real-time base depths can help build trust and generate excitement. Promoting the message that Wachusett has a deep base is especially powerful when guests don’t have snow in their own yards.

Webcams. Speaking of visuals, Nub’s Nob has made some recent upgrades and investments into its webcam, which gets the highest volume of website traffic, followed by the snow report page. The new webcam is a fraction of the cost of the old one, with a much-improved image quality, says Doornbos, providing a clear picture of conditions.

Social media has also become an integral channel for sharing conditions. Whiteface Mountain, N.Y., is putting more of a focus and priority on its communications through platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Beech has been less consistent with Instagram compared to other communication channels, admits Freeman, so she’s introduced an AI tool to automate daily Instagram posts. 

Internal comms. Beech Mountain is also onboarding a new platform, ULLR, for its terrain park reporting. This will allow the park crew to post updated pictures of features, snow conditions, and other important information, all in real time. “Our park staff can easily do this from their phones, and the data is automatically stored and processed internally, which is a big efficiency boost,” says Freeman.

Efficient internal communications are key to ensuring timely updates for the skiing and riding public. “With the introduction of Google Spaces for our operational communication, we’re able to connect with the exact people we need for real-time updates and keep that as efficient as possible,” says Jackie Tal, digital communications blazer at Mountain Creek in New Jersey. 

Google Spaces is a mobile app for group discussions and messaging, like Slack and other internal comms tools. Mountain Creek uses it to gather info for the morning snow report and, importantly, get updates throughout the day, which can be quickly communicated via the website as well as Facebook and Instagram stories, so the public has the most accurate information in a timely fashion.

The Best Policy

The industry has gotten far better at honest snow reporting—a result of the constant feedback stream social media provides. Smart ski areas pay attention to guest feedback and use it to improve their snow reporting, and in some cases to affirm they’re doing it right. 

Guest feedback. Skiers frequently comment that they appreciate the honest snow reports at Nub’s Nob, Doornbos explains. “To me, honesty means that we accurately report the number of runs that are open and include comments that describe the current snow conditions and our expectations for the ski day,” he says. “In the spring, our snow reports might include information like: ‘the snow is firm to start the ski day, but we expect it to loosen up before noon and be very soft toward the end of the day.’ Our skiers appreciate this, and they use the snow report as a planning tool.” 

“The snow report is really for our guests, so their feedback is crucial to our efforts,” says Tal. “We listen to surveys, data from our live chat, data from email analytics, comments and messages on social media, and in-person feedback to customize how we are sharing to make sure we’re giving the people what they want.”

For example, “Last year we tried eliminating our email mountain report to see the impact and how our guests responded,” says Tal. And respond they did. “We now know we have a network of core users who really enjoy the email, so we are talking through plans of bringing it back in some capacity.” 

OpenSnow’s Gratz says, “The biggest issue I hear from guests is that the snow report is not representative of where they ride.” Since conditions change from top-to-bottom, side-to-side and hour-to-hour, it’s important to be clear about where and how a snow report is sourced, he advises.

The Best Recipe: Tech and a Human Touch

At the end of the day, a good snow report is more than just data and weather—it’s a complex and vital form of communication that helps guests plan and keeps them informed and engaged while also building trust in the resort’s operations. Whether your snow routinely drops from clouds or hums out of a machine, a good snow report prioritizes accuracy, timeliness, and transparency. 

As innovations like AI tools and automation, new social platforms and better, faster tech continue to reshape the process, the best snow reports will balance technology with a human touch. Ultimately, snow reports should reflect both the mountain’s conditions and its personality, ensuring that skiers and riders feel informed, excited, and ready to hit the slopes.