Snow report, base depth or forecast: which number matters?
Understand the measurement windows behind resort snow totals and why a base-depth number is not new snowfall.
A report looks backward; a forecast looks forward
A 24-hour snow report describes snowfall during a measurement window that has already happened. A forecast estimates what may fall during upcoming periods. Comparing them is useful, but adding them together can double-count a day or combine periods that do not line up.
On a mountain page, switch between 7-day forecast and Snow report. The forecast uses local calendar dates. The snow report keeps the resort’s stated 24-, 48- or 72-hour window. Read the reported time before comparing two mountains.
Base depth is a separate measurement
Base depth describes the existing snowpack at the reported measuring location. It is not a measurement of new snow in the last storm. Season totals describe another period again. PowderPeek keeps these fields separate and does not use a base-depth value to fill an unavailable 24-hour snowfall field.
A resort may publish several totals and omit others. A blank seven-day report does not mean the resort received no snow over that week. It means a usable value was not available in the source that the collector could read.
Know who measured the snow
A recent, dated resort report supplies the main snow reading when available. Otherwise an individual mountain may show a nearby NOAA station observation. The station’s name, distance and elevation distinguish it from an official mountain report. The nearby-mountain comparison uses resort reports rather than silently substituting station values.
Two measurements can both be accurately transcribed and still describe different conditions. They may come from different elevations, locations or reporting times. A station near a ski area is not automatically the resort’s snow stake.
Use the timestamp as part of the number
PowderPeek treats a verified report no more than 36 hours old as recent. Older reports and reports without a verified measurement time remain labeled separately. Fetching an old page today does not make its measurement current.
For an early-morning decision, open the official report if the site is still showing yesterday’s update or an unverified time. If you find an incorrect source or amount, send the resort name, source link, measurement period and the value you saw through the Contact page. That makes the discrepancy easier to investigate.
Sources and methodology
This guide explains PowderPeek’s published data methodology. See the NWS API documentation, WeatherAPI field documentation and the official sources on each mountain page for the underlying data.