How To Decipher The Snow Report

If you’ve been reading our daily snow report and getting stuck on some of the commonly-used jargon, you’re in luck! We’ve created a glossary of snow and weather-related terms so everyone can head up the mountain prepared for the conditions at Cardrona & Treble Cone that day.

Wind-affected snow:

Wind-affected snow can sometimes be known as "drifts'. You guessed it...drifts occur when high winds push snow around the mountain, and it catches in spots where there is more shelter from the wind. This often creates a berm effect and firmer terrain in more exposed areas.

Powder:

Powder is a term used when snow is light in weight and density - it’s when you get your snorkel out! It’s delightful to turn in and is usually found when snow has freshly fallen.

Graupel:

Graupel is formed by ice crystals sticking to the branches on a snowflake, creating a brittle icy barrier around each snowflake. Graupel is also commonly known as ice pallets and soft hail - it’s usually found in convective storms (widely known as thunderstorms). This process then creates the result of riming.

Rime:

The formation of graupel (ice crystals) settling onto surfaces and the ground is called snow rime or riming. When settled, this is called rime, which tends to feel like a rough, crusty layer when shredding and also sticks to everything from buildings to chairs, jackets and lift towers.

Cookies:

Lumps or clumps of snow on top of the surface. Many people find this can affect their ability to ski with as much precision and often prefer to turn around these clumps to save their leg muscles for later in the day!

Sleet:

When it sleets up the mountain, the precipitation is very wet. Unlike light powder snow, sleet is heavy to turn in and feels sticky on the base of your ski/snowboard.

Moguls:

Piles in the snow, usually made of snow pushed when skiers turn, are called moguls. They look like snowy bumps, and there are usually lots heaped together - they’re often found on steeper slopes where people have had to speed dump.

Groomed:

Groomed areas are made by a groomer or "cat" with specialised equipment attached to create better snow conditions on trails with harder snowpack. This creates small line indents in the snow (known as cord - short for corduroy). Many love to take advantage of the early morning cord with a few speed laps and wide carving turns.

Tracked Out:

When something has been tracked out, this usually means many people have ridden terrain with fresh snow and pushed the snow around with their skis or boards, meaning that the snow doesn’t sit as an even coating anymore. Instead, it’s more like soft moguls.

On/ Off-Piste:

Skiing and snowboarding on-piste is usually on the groomed trails - these are usually the marked blue, green, red, and groomed black trails. Off-piste is considered to be outside of the trails. When skiing off-piste, snow tends to be more natural conditions (as you won’t find a groomer off-piste).

Snow Coverage:

When reports talk about snow coverage, they mean the amount of snow on the ground. This is often described in the report under the "snow depth/base" measurements - basically, the bigger the number, the more snow is under your feet on the trail as you ski/ snowboard around the mountain.

Wind Chill:

A windchill may occur when the wind is significant outside, and the temperature is already low. This just means that the wind makes it feel colder than the actual temperature.

Visibility:

Visibility refers to how easy it is to see where you're going when you're skiing and snowboarding. If a thick cloud sits on the mountain, visibility is likely to be described as "poor". On a clear day, you'll often hear the term "unlimited visibility".

Precipitation:

In basic terms, precipitation is moisture falling from the sky. This happens from the condensation of atmospheric water vapour - this can be rain, snow, sleet, hail or any other moisture. If it’s in a weather report, it means snow could be on the way, so get your dancing shoes on and hope that it gets cold enough to snow!

Freezing level:

This is the altitude in metres where the air temperature turns to 0 degrees Celsius. The lower the freezing level, the higher the chance that any precipitation falling will arrive as snow on the mountain. Cardrona's Base Area is at 1620m, so we're usually in for a good time if the freezing level is at 1500m or below!

Isolated:

When a weather report talks about an area being isolated, this means that the weather is concentrated in smaller areas and not spread over a large amount of land mass.

Flurries:

Light snow with small durations but no accumulation is often referred to as snow flurries.

Snow Showers:

Snow showers mean that small durations of snow falling will occur, and accumulation of snow should happen, too.

Snowpack:

The density of snow can be different depending on a variety of factors in the weather, which can change the feeling of the snow under your feet when you're skiing or snowboarding.

Spring conditions:

When the seasons change into warmer conditions, many snow reports talk about "spring conditions", particularly later in the season. As the temperatures rise, the snow melts during beautiful bluebird days (we'll explain what that is soon, too), creating the feeling of slushy snow beneath your skis or board. Because the temperature often gets below zero overnight, even in spring, this makes the terrain feel firmer in the morning while it's still defrosting. In other words, spring conditions tend to mean firm snow in the morning, which defrosts throughout the day into softer, "slushier" conditions. On a spring day, the sun is usually beaming, which generally means you'll need fewer layers on the hill, too!

Bluebird day:

Simply put, a bluebird day is beautiful, warm and sunny. It's the perfect day to enjoy the snow with a picnic for lunch... make sure you don't forget your sunscreen though!

We want to make everyone have the best day possible on the mountain, which is why we created this straightforward glossary of jargon used to describe all things to do with snow, skiing (or boarding) and weather. If you’re planning a trip up to Cardrona or Treble Cone, make sure to check out our daily snow reports and weather forecasts!