Hi folks,

One of the new features on DCSki this winter is snow condition reports for ski resorts in MD, PA, WV, and VA. I have licensed snow condition data from AccuWeather, Inc., which is parsed and displayed each day in the DCSki "Conditions" section (available from the main menu).

Unfortunately, I have found this data to be less than completely reliable, and wanted to provide an update. Several resorts are missing from AccuWeather's feed, but even worse, a good portion of their data seems to be inaccurate. (For example, resorts are being reported as having more trails open than they physically have, while other resorts are being reported as being closed when they are in fact open.) I consider this completely unacceptable. I have contacted AccuWeather several times and hope that they are working quickly to correct this problem. Unfortunately, they have yet to solve the problem and have failed to give me a timeline as to when it might be corrected.

In the meantime, please be sure to contact each resort for the official condition reports. I include links to each resort's official web page on the Conditions page to make this easy.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. I will provide an update as soon as I hear back from AccuWeather.

Thanks,

- Scott

Hi again,

Just a quick update on the condition reports: I've been in touch with AccuWeather, and they are changing content providers to a more reliable source. I should start getting the new feed in a day or two, so once I've modified my scripts, we should start seeing much more accurate reports as well as picking up missing resorts.

Once this is set up and running, I may start adding some new features to DCSki such as automatically placing notes on the front page of DCSki indicating which resorts received the most snow over the past 24 hours, etc.

Thanks for the patience,

- Scott

Thanks Scott, you guys are terrific!! It has become daily routine to check in with DCSki for the latest information. Now how to finance all the skiing I want to do. I hope its not premature but it appears we are in for a terrific ski season. Thanks Again
Doug

Hi folks,

(First, thanks Doug! I try to keep DCSki fresh and design it to satisfy a really tough customer - me!)

And now, an update on conditions - they should now be functional, accurate, and up-to-date thanks to a new data feed. You'll now find more details (such as notes for snowboarders where available, operating hours, etc.), and the conditions will be updated three times a day. You should always check with a resort for official conditions prior to making a trip, but the condition reports on DCSki should now be much more useful.

Enjoy!

- Scott

Scott

i have a question... the currect weather thing you have on the page seems to be a bit wacky??? it says like low temp of 34 high of 45 and marginol snow making conditions...what kinda snow are they making?? i am not sure how arugurate that snowmaking condition thing is but i am probably wrong...

Air

Good question. The weather information is based out of Hagerstown, Md, which tends to run a few degrees warmer than many of the ski resorts around here. (At some places, like Snowshoe, it can be 20 degrees colder than Hagerstown!)

It also looks at trend information and tries to "outguess" the forecast. In some cases, it is possible for resorts to make snow above freezing. Resorts can also sometimes start making snow at the top of the mountain even if it's too warm at the bottom of the mountain.

In general, I think it's been doing pretty well most of the season. It's when things are right "on the borderline" that its results may sometimes look odd. I also continually tweak it to try and improve its accuracy. But, it's basically taking a few degrees off the high and low temperatures listed to accomodate for the "average" temperature differential between Hagerstown and the resorts (most of which have a higher elevation than Hagerstown, or are in slightly colder regions.)

Now, if it says the high and low temperatures are both above 70, and it says marginal snowmaking temperatures, there's clearly a problem!

- Scott