Brains
We’ve all been there: staring at three different weather apps trying to decipher if there will be fresh snow for your day at the resort. The issue isn’t a lack of options or data; it’s that predicting weather patterns and snowfall in the mountains is incredibly difficult, and with so many outlooks available, who can you trust?
Enter Snowiest.app, a free, donation-based weather aggregator website that is putting the raw data directly into the hands of skiers and riders.Â
Snowiest isn’t a forecaster—it’s a model comparison tool. It helps you see agreement and uncertainty across multiple model outputs in one place. Designed for transparency, it puts the raw numbers front and center. Their data comes from globally recognized weather models such as:Â
- ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts)
- GFS (Global Forecast System)
- JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency)
- ICON (Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic)
- GEM (Global Environmental Multiscale)
Snowiest pulls the raw data from these public weather models and visualizes them side-by-side. By aggregating data from these global services and displaying their content all in one place, Snowiest removes the excess and delivers its mission; show the data, don’t forecast. By delivering an easily understandable format, it empowers users to interpret the weather for themselves and understand the true potential of an incoming weather pattern. For any ski area, it allows you to look up to 14 days, depending on the model
The website is the brainchild of Andrew Atwong, a lifelong skier who wanted a free, no-nonsense way to compare snow forecasts while planning trips. While Snowiest started as a hobby project in January 2024, it has quickly evolved into a useful planning companion for skiers and riders who eagerly anticipate their time at the resort and the possible snowfall rather than waiting for a morning report.
I put Snowiest to the test before a trip to Big Sky Resort, Montana, and am happy to report that the weather data allowed me to anticipate the snowfall the mountain would receive during my visit. While other websites and forecasts gave me conflicting information, the raw data displayed side-by-side on Snowiest allowed me to see the possibilities for fresh snow during my trip.
When I spoke to Atwong about his website and the data it displays, one point of emphasis was the growth and continued development of the project. He relayed to me that this was a project built by a skier for skiers, and it’s constantly evolving. One feature that may be in the pipeline in the future is a Freeze-Thaw Cycle Detection. This would help skiers and riders understand what conditions on the mountain are like by identifying overnight temperature swings.
In an era of skyrocketing prices to enjoy the sport of skiing and paid subscriptions for just about everything, Snowiest remains a free resource to give you a unique picture of when to expect snow. The best part is that Snowiest is actively looking for feedback from the skiing community to help shape the future of the platform. Atwong said he’s open to sponsorship or a pilot integration with a resort if the right partners reach out.
So whether you want specific data visualizations, new regional tools, or mobile-specific features, they want to hear from you. Check it out for yourself at Snowiest.app to explore the data and share your ideas for what should be built next. If you find it useful, you can also donate to Snowiest as a way to help cover the hosting/data and support continued improvements. The goal is to keep Snowiest free to skiers and riders, and deliver the best possible picture of what’s happening in the atmosphere.
