 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
I'm currently using bergfex app to get snow forecast. It works ok, but when I got a paid version, I learnt that the detailed forecast is only for Austria and Germany. Since I'm skiing most of the time in French alps, I'd like to hear your suggestions for an app that offers similar functionality for French alps.
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I do use Bergfex mostly for resort specific forecasts, but as I'm in Austria I guess that works for me, but doesn't help you. The Bergfex website is also convenient for reviewing open lift operations and webcams.
I also use wePowder (https://wepowder.com), which covers all of the Alps, but feels like it has a more French/Swiss focus sometimes. I haven't subscribed to the paid version, so not sure what additional benefits that might provide.
Edit: But then who really knows! I'm going to Reiteralm on the weekend. wePowder shows 25cm forecast on Friday, but Bergfex only 4cm.
https://wepowder.com/en/villages/pichl#reiteralm
https://www.bergfex.com/reiteralm/wetter/berg/
Today, I choose to believe wePowder.
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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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The extra "paid" version of snow-forecast just gives you a much longer run of "forecasts" than the accuracy of the models can sustain. So it's a waste of money, I reckon.
I use the free "XC weather" app for sailing in the UK and it seems pretty good for the Alps too - but just uses the same GFS model as everything else, I guess!
For longer range than 5 days the discussion of the learned on our snow forecast thread on Snowheads is as good as any, I reckon, for those of us without meteorological understanding! We've had some very good contributions to that thread, over the years.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I tend to use meteoblue, meteo-alpes also good and chamonix meteo obviously.
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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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Personally I don't think you need detailed or long range forecast - not for punter skiing at least.
I go for a week at a time booked and planned in advance. All I am really looking at it is the next day or two so I now if I should stay close to home/in the trees or if it's going to be a big day and I should travel, hit my favourite spots.
And wind, freezing level, helps to know what conditions will be faced, which aspects could be good.
All of that is available on the free versions of snow forecast, bergfex et al.
@basanix, what are you looking to use the forecast for?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I live 6-8 hours away from French Alps so I was hoping to have something a bit more long term. That way I could plan a week or more in advance. However, based on the very useful answers above, I'll cancel the bergfex subscription and stick to the free versions.
Thanks all for talking some sense into me. 
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I use free snow-forecast.com and OnTheSnow App - although that one seems to have forgotten everything I used to have stored on there... Both can send emails when snow falls in specific resorts.
None are paid for.
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lookoutthewindow.com 
In years of amateur forecasting for wind on the UK South Coast that's so much easier than trying to determine if it's going to snow and how much, as it can be so localised, and this is based on the past 12 years in situ in the French Alps.
There can be amazing differences from one valley to another (5km as the crow flies) and major features such as the Col du Lautaret can drastically affect how weather systems will track.
In fact, in the Summer, you can sometimes actually see this much more dramatically, with the rain clouds resulting in localised flooding 2km up/down the valley whilst we're still bathed in sunshine.
If anything, I'd say the forecasts now tend to predict far more than actual, though where they do seem to be accurate is in the rain/snow isotherm, and this is becoming increasingly important, as at valley level we're getting far more days of rain than we used to, and where that at altitude eventually turns to snow hence in the past couple of seasons we've had limited cover in the valley which has been bad for the cross country and yet plentiful above 2,000m.
And towards the end of the season, forecasts are important not for snow accumulation(s) but for determining best options for Spring snow and freeze/thaw conditions, or not, and again last couple of years we've been thwarted by above average overnight temps and snow not freezing overnight as you'd usually expect.
So in answer to the OP this is what I do, and in fact this is a live example as it were, and a good one at that.
Last Saturday, Meteoblue had 10-20cm for tomorrow. I then checked some others, and they all had very little. Sunday, that then disappeared off MeteoBlue, and before I saw this post, I had a look, and it's come back again, along with a few other sites showing snow, but again all different amounts.
I then checked the GFS Model diagram (squiggly lines) as that shows various models that various sites use, and then they have the median of that, the red line.
So as you can see there is a fair amount of disparity amongst them, and my gut feel is the red line circa 5cms but that is at 1,400.
This is where snow-forecast is good, in that you can then check at various altitudes the predicted snow, so 4cm in the valley and 10 up top.
As you can see, looking forward, the lines get very animated as it were, and that's when you cross-check with other forecasts.
In fact I just looked at yr.no which I know is the site of choice for many guides, and their long term is free, and for the 10th and 11th they are predicting 60cm but as rain with temps at +5, but snowforecast showing around 10 and they have their heaviest on the 13th which yr.no doesn't go out to, but what we can be sure is that we should be in for a very volatile period, but there again it's too far off to be sure, and really you can only be sure on looking out the window
So basically look at them all and then choose the one you like the most
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@basanix, where are you skiing? I use Meteo Tarentaise (you can find him on Facebook) as his short term forecast seems to be the most accurate that I've seen for resorts in that part of the world.
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I use Meteo Ski which is the official app of Meteo France. Gives 3 hour forecasts for resort level and the summits as well as the avalanche bulletin.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| @basanix, where are you skiing? I use Meteo Tarentaise (you can find him on Facebook) as his short term forecast seems to be the most accurate that I've seen for resorts in that part of the world. |
Good point, down here this team are also excellent.
https://www.facebook.com/MeteoAlpesDurance
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I ski at Les 2 Alpes. Didn't hear anything about local forecast, outside of the official website, which I don't really like.
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Yr.no for all my weather needs.
Resort webcams for the actual conditions
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You know it makes sense.
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I recently hacked this together for the webcams side of this question: snow.obsession.cam. It tries to bring together all the webcams for a connected resort area with a map, so you can click between them easily. It has Chamonix/Mont Blanc, 3 Valleys, Tignes/VdI and Portes du Soleil at the moment. Very much a hobby project but works quite well.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Windy.com has an option that will allow you to look at almost all the models (10 different ones) side by side for any particular location. If you have the paid option then ECMWF and GFS will show you their 15 days forecasts. It also will show you the closest located webcam to any particular spot.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Has anyone been following Google's AI work on weather? After the pretty incredible AI stuff that they (particularly Deepmind) have done over the last few years, my expectation that this will improve forecasting accuracy. Supposedly some of this is already built into Google Weather, but they don't appear to offer a fancy weather site - you have to hack something together with their API. If anyone is aware of sites using the new Google models, I'd be interested to see them.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ECMWF has a separate AI forecast that you can find on their website
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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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As @afterski says, windy.com is one of the best weather apps around - compares several of the forecast model (ECMWF is the default) and there are multiple different forecast parameters available
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Same for me as Weathercam, a combination of Meteoblue and Snowforecast, seems to work well
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Weathercam, could possibly make AI do some of the hard yards in that...although not sure how the prompt would need to work
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@SnoodyMcFlude, that's a classic case, I think, of where AI could not do it, as how can it interpret/see/ deduce what has actually fallen on my terrace, though that said when it comes to AI I wouldn't be surprised if it could view my webcam and makes its own conclusion
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I don't like snowforecast.
Meteoblue lets you pick locations at altitude for height related forecasts.
Round here the pisteurs use MeteoSuisse. We're just in their "catchment" area.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| ....Meteoblue lets you pick locations at altitude for height related forecasts..... |
When I try to find that it's trying to get me to subscribe to Point + or am I missing something?
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@Weathercam, no, you just search on the map. Not sure it works on phones though
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| amh15 wrote: |
| I recently hacked this together for the webcams side of this question: snow.obsession.cam. It tries to bring together all the webcams for a connected resort area with a map, so you can click between them easily. It has Chamonix/Mont Blanc, 3 Valleys, Tignes/VdI and Portes du Soleil at the moment. Very much a hobby project but works quite well. |
This is really great, cheers!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Weathercam, I meant more use AI to scrape the data rather than the whole thing.
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FAQ
