WOAY-TV (Oak Hill, WV): The snowmaking process is an intricate process at ski resorts such as Winterplace in Ghent.
“What we we need it to be 32 degrees, Right. That’s the bare minimum. So, 32 degrees wet bulb,” Josh Faber, general manager at Winterplace, said.
This wet bulb temperature is what the air temperature would drop to if it started to precipitate.
Faber said that they like to have the wet bulb temperature anywhere from 30 degrees or colder. That means the moisture coming out of the snow guns will produce that mist and lots of snow that would cover the mountain more efficiently than the wet bulb of 32 degrees.
Any snow made with a wet bulb temperature of 32 degrees would be large and clumpy and wouldn’t be as manageable for the ski resort operators. It would not effectively
cover the mountain with snow.
The temperature affects how much snow can be made.
“The colder the temperatures become, the more water we can add to create more snow for that production value,” Faber said. “We like to see a solid, you know, 6 to 8 hour window of wet bulb temperatures 30 degrees or lower to make production effective for us from an energy and cost perspective. If we have that window in the forecast, then we’ll pull the trigger and go for it.”
So, what’s the weather outlook through early December? Check out Chief Meteorologist Chad Merrill’s latest forecast: