The Weather Man – Friend or Foe of Skiing

IMO most TV weather people do a disservice to ski areas in the East and the customers they serve. The weather men scare people off by over emphasizing how cold it will be or how much snow is coming. They always present a forecast of cold weather or snow as bad news. They start the fear factor of a 4 to 6 inch snowfall forecast days ahead of time. They tell people not to travel unless they have to. They want to make a news story out of the facts that its cold and it snows in the winter.

This past Sunday at Whiteface was a perfect example. Yeah it was cold, but there was no wind, conditions where great and the sky was sunny. One of the best days of what is turning out to be a great season, but nobody was there. People stayed away and tour buses cancelled.

Now I like to have no lift lines and uncrowded trails as much as anybody. That said, ski areas need to make money in order to continue capital improvements, make snow, and in general to continue providing a quality ski experience.
Also people’s livelihoods are at stake and not just the people who work at the ski area. People who work at restaurants, bars, motels and other service businesses are also negatively affected.

BTW, I’m giving local weather man and WF regular, Gib Brown, a pass on my rant. He is a skier and he gets it. However, his peers in the broadcasting business should think about who and what there (OH no it’s going to snow and be cold) drama forecasts are affecting. Just sayin.

I agree, yesterday we experienced the same thing here at Greek. Yup, cold, dang cold, but not cold enough to take the fun out of skiing. Bright skies, sunny, single digit temps with below zero windchill = great skiing in my book, but the place was a ghost town. They were even sending bartenders and waitstaff home early do to the lack of traffic, not cool, all set up by the "alert" of cold temps.

The bastards even do it in the summer for golf courses----rain, rain, rain.....yeah, it rained for like 20 minutes then cleared up and we have the course to ourselves.

I use my Indian Weather Rock for the weather and it's never let me down...EVER!!

like all news reporting now , it's all about sensationalism . the need for ratings..the biggest culprit is TWC and ACCU..

Seems like this was the case across the northeast. Gore was really deserted too. (Take a look at the last pic in my TR from yesterday 1/23.)

I admit we got sucked in a bit by the hype. We never thought about not skiing, but our daughters 8:30am lessons had us concerned for her.  It was sunny and the wind was calm and the weekend was no problem for any of us.

I do think that those of us with lots of experience watching the weather in the winter, learn to read between the lines.

Also in my experience I have way more ski days that were better than I expected, vs worse than expected.

Jason - TWC and Accuweather are capitalists. If we didn't "buy" it they wouldn't sell it!

Highpeaksdrifter wrote

This past Sunday at Whiteface was a perfect example. Yeah it was cold, but there was no wind, conditions where great and the sky was sunny. One of the best days of what is turning out to be a great season, but nobody was there. People stayed away and tour buses cancelled.

I definitely agree with you, however, it's also important to keep in mind that when you're a season pass holder with a residence near the mountain, your perspective is going to be a little different than someone who has to pay for lift tickets, lodging, meals, etc.

There's no doubt about it ... conditions yesterday were OUTSTANDING, and the fact that there were no lift lines whatsoever, and nobody on the trails made it even better. But if you're going to have to drop $1000 - $1200 for a weekend for a family of four, you're probably going to want to make sure that something like the weather isn't going to make the money you spend a waste.

I had a friend up this weekend who stayed at my house, but he had to buy his lift tickets and put his daughter in the ski school. Even without paying for lodging, he still dropped close to $500 when it was all said and done. We had some great skiing, and he wasn't sorry he did it, but we definitely didn't get as much skiing in as we would have if it had been 20 degrees instead of 0.

Depends on the weatherman, and if they're friends of skiers such as myself, or the mountain?

Josh Fox, Lionel Hutz, Jason! - They all focus on the mountains, promoting skiing.
 Average TV weatherman - Probably pretty bad for the mountains. "Cold, windy, and snowy! Stay off the roads and inside." That just means no lift lines and freshies to me!

JasonWx wrote

like all news reporting now , it's all about sensationalism . the need for ratings..the biggest culprit is TWC and ACCU..

Yep.  Just like the nightly news reports: "There's an everyday, commonplace item IN YOUR HOUSE that will KILL YOUR CHILDREN. Details at 11 . . ."

Yeppers. How about the way they do stuff like saying  " America is too obsessed with Model perfect figures!!! " then go on and on about " Jessica Simpson is gaining weight ! " They bitched about the Glee Cast posing sexy saying it was bad for the kids while they simultaniously and repeatedly showed those pics all over the tube.

I enjoy watching NECN Weather streaming online. Not much NY discussion so probably not worth while for most of you guys, but Tim Kelley is a hardcore skier and "gets it". Matt Noyes loves a good storm and the words he uses to describe the storm usually have a positive connotation. Both Matt and Tim often sound like they are routing for the storm despite what the metro area folks might be feeling. They often call out specific ski areas for snow totals or forecasts. The NECN boys are also very vocal in not making a storm call many days out... they will specifically say "I know you want a snow total, but we just don't know yet" etc.

Even the doomsday weather guys are definitely friends of skiing. If anything, I bet over sensationalized storms drive up skier visits. This season is a perfect example. There are parts of SoNE that have more snow YTD than some mountains up north. Snow is VERY good right now in the mountains. But for many storms 2-4 weeks ago, many hit the metro areas harder than the mountains and sent skiers into a frenzy before conditions were that great up north. Because it really didn't matter what was happening in the mountains if it was snowing in metro.

I don't think weathermen made people stay away this past weekend (and it was very uncrowded this weekend due to the cold, I agree). Its just that many people are cold averse. Many people don't have fun skiing when they are cold. Whether it is because they have bad clothing, inappropriate layers, wear three pairs of socks and jeans, or whatever. Those folks really should stay home if its that cold and they are going to be that uncomfortable. Those skiers that know how to dress and handle the cold can enjoy the empty slopes. I don't see a problem here. I don't think the weather guys are scaring people off... I think that people just don't like or don't know how to handle winter at its worst.

Well, for whatever reason, and I think probably it was, among other factors, the weather forecast,  Gore, and from the sound of it other places were pretty quiet this past weekend.  However, don't forget that it was the weekend just after the long MLK holiday, and there were two big football games on Sunday, which I suspect were factors as well.  
 I think that it is usually a mistake to base skiing decisions on the weather forecast.  The weather is rarely as bad as the weather people make it sound, and on those rare occasions when it is, the skiing is usually still good.  The bottom line:  consider the weather forecast advisory only.  If the forecast is for rain or cold weather toss in a rain parka or an extra fleece, but go anyway.  Don't let some over sensationalized talking head on TV (or radio or internet) keep you home.  Go skiing.  You WON'T regret it.