Glossary

The words the site uses, and exactly what each one means here.

Powder-o-Meter

PowderCow's own 0–11 score for how good the skiing at a resort is about to be. Built from snow amount, snow temperature, wind, sunshine, base depth and terrain. The full formula is on the method page.

Powder

Fresh, dry, uncompacted snow. Light enough to ski through rather than on. What the whole site exists to find.

Bluebird

A clear sunny day immediately after a heavy snowfall. On the Powder-o-Meter it is a flat bonus, awarded whole or not at all: a day with 15 cm or more followed by a day with 2 cm or less and at least five hours of sun.

Base depth

How much settled snow is already on the ground, measured in centimetres. It matters only when it is thin — a deep base and a very deep base ski the same.

Wind slab

Snow packed into a dense, cohesive layer by wind during or after a storm. It skis badly and is an avalanche concern. This is why wind during snowfall lowers the score: calm builds powder, gales build slab.

Snow temperature

The average temperature across the days that actually received snow, rather than the week's average. Cold snow is drier and lighter. −5 °C or colder is what we want.

Dryness

The multiplier that converts snow temperature into value. Wet snow near freezing keeps just over half its worth; snow around −10 °C is worth a quarter more than normal.

The 11

The top of the scale, and a verdict rather than a sum: 30 cm or more across the storm, at −5 °C or colder, in calm wind, on a base of 80 cm, with sun on the way. It happens a handful of times a season, somewhere on Earth.

Hemisphere switch

Half the world is out of season at any moment. The site opens on whichever hemisphere actually has skiable snow and lets you look at the other one.