So ski resorts have to manufacture the snow themselves. Snow is manufactured by combining forced water and pressurized air and spraying the mist into the air where cold temperatures turn the tiny water droplets into snow that falls on the slopes.

How Colorado S Ski Resorts Can Continue Making Snow In Drought Years Like This One

But the most important factor for snow conditions is the wet bulb temperature.

How do ski resorts make snow. It is possible to make snow when the temperature is above freezing as long as the humidity is very low. So how do snow makers determine if the conditions are right. Without the help of snowmaking many resorts would not be able to function at all.

Though it might sound confusing the process is quite simple. As you ll see this is more expensive. Ever since the accidental discovery of man made snow in the 1940s it has been growing more and more popular for ski resorts to make their own snow.

The droplets fall as snow. A snow gun is then used to blow the air and water into tiny water droplets high up in the sky and as they freeze they fall to the ground. Ski resorts make snow by blowing water droplets into the air with a device called a snow gun.

Minuscule globules of water measuring just 30 microns are shot through four nozzles. Snow made at the upper end of the range requires more compressed air than snow made at lower temperatures. The topography the size and shape of the ski trails the proximity of the hill to water supplies and the geology all impact the cost for a resort to manufacture snow.

A low temperature with a low humidity is the best atmosphere for snowmakers as it creates the driest snow. In actuality there is a lot more involved in snowmaking. It turns out they need a lot more information than they can get from an ordinary thermometer.

To figure out when to make snow and to make sure they get the right kind of snow ski resorts depend on the expertise of experienced snow machine operators commonly called snow makers. Standard thermometers measure the dry bulb temperature of the atmosphere. That is the simple description.

Voilà you have snow. The snow gun forces tiny droplets of water high into the sky giving it time to freeze. These freeze instantly then mix with larger droplets blasted through 24 other nozzles creating snow.

When snow falls from the sky it begins as water vapor which then freezes on its way down and becomes a snowflake. Most resorts can make snow any time the wet bulb temperature is at 28 degrees fahrenheit or colder. The temperature should be at or below freezing and the humidity low.

But with above freezing temperatures and even moderate humidity dreams of a white resort go out the window. And in fact there are temperatures below which our resorts generally won t make snow. Trails with a higher vertical the change in elevation from the bottom of the trail to the top of the trail will require a greater effort to pump water to the top than will a.