 Poster: A snowHead
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The height of this alpine plant at the beginning of the ski season is quite special
Because as old mountain folks say, the length of the Yellow Gentian indicates the amount of snow for the coming season.
Do you want to know how much snow will fall next season according to this special plant?
Can the Yellow Gentian still be trusted?
Can this predictive gift of a plant be right again?
Lets look at the French Alps, the height of the Yellow Gentian would indicate the thickness of the snow cover in the coming winter.
The higher the gentians grow in the summer and the more there are, the more snow would falll in the winter.
But is the Yellow Gentian still reliable as a snow forecaster?
To do this, lets see how the Yellow Gentian has done in predicting in recent years. Lets go back say 20 seasons .. Check....this.
2004: The Gentians were short, the winter was very bad…
2005-2008 No Data found
2009: High Gentian: excellent winter
2010: Low Gentian: very moderate winter
2011: Few and low Gentians: moderate conditions. Very little snow all season long.
2012: High Gentians: very good winter! One of the deepest winters here ever!
2013: Low Gentian: prediction was wrong. It was a great winter in the southern French Alps. With a very early ending.
2014: High Gentian: moderate winter, forecast was wrong.
2015: High Gentian: a great season after a dramatic start.
2016: Low Gentian: very moderate winter. Only enough snow above 2000 meters
2017: High Gentian: an absolutely wonderful winter!
2018: High Gentian: moderate winter until February, then lots of snow above the long-term average…
2019: High Gentian: due to some very heavy rainfall periods, more snow fell than normal. However, these were followed by warm weather, so it often remained 'just on' on lower slopes.
2020: High Gentian: More snow than average at the beginning of the season, below average in the middle of the season and average at the end of the season. Prediction was wrong.
2021 High Gentian: worst winter in times in the French Southern Alps. Yellow Gentian wasn't right.
2022 Average length: A fluctuating winter with an average snow cover at altitude. Prediction was ok.
So far, the track record of the yellow gentian is better than many model-based seasonal expectations.  :
There may be no scientific basis, but yellow gentian gets it right surprisingly often. I therefore assume and conclude science has not caught up or discovered what is happening here
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The Yellow Gentian , this now famous alpine plant, has spoken:
(High Gentian)
We will have a snowy winter in 2023/2024!
Bring it On
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Excellent post! Can't wait.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Excellent. I'm more than happy to go with the Yellow Gentian prediction for this year.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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What Snowfall will this season bring?
According to tradition, this plant would indicate how much snow will fall next winter. Of course you to measure the yellow gentian.
Do you want to know how much snow will fall in the winter of 2024/2025 according to this predictive plant?
Last season prediction/result (previous seasons in OP)
2023: A medium to high Gentian: a season with record amounts of snow at altitude. Forecast was ok.
24/25 ???
Clue ...the yellow gentian is currently quite tall  Could an El Nina year thwart this flowers predictive gift?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Is the ENSO phase now cross identifying?
Edited to add; I am a complete sucker for these ‘natural indicator’ type forecasts.
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Ah, not a 'Don't eat yellow snow' thread then...
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Its been newsworthy for the paucity of wasps this year, which is an indicator of a warm winter... but then again I did have a hankering for tartiflette in Morzine the other week, which is a signal to expect heavy dumps...*ahem*
Plus it snowed for the first time in Sierra Nevadas in August in 20 years this weekend. Let winter commence!
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