Worms and Snow

Worms crawling(I believe that is how they get around) across your driveway? To my blogger friend that experienced that, I would agree that cannot be a January reality!!!! Someone tricked you and I into believing it is January. I was leaving the area the other night and I had insects hitting my windshield on the drive home...... That, like worms on the driveway does not fit with January. As we exit January, we experience day #40 of consecutive days of much above normal temps. Good riddance to January and let us hope February is kinder to us snow-lovers.

In terms of making snow, we tried last night........ We came in about 3 am when the temps dropped to 27 degrees........ Had about a 4 hour window that snowmaking looked possible as the coldest part of the day is right before sunrise typically. I never happened. It stayed at 27 until 5am and then started to rise as the light breeze took on a southerly tilt and clouds moved in. Temp had risen to 30 by 7am and the attempt at snowmaking harvested very little for our effort. Another strike against us last night was high humidity(about94%). The colder the air the better the snowmaking. The drier the air the better the snowmaking.
We typically like to start making snow when the Wet Bulb temp reaches 24 degrees. When temps get down below 20, then we can really start producing volumes of snow. At any given temp, a lower humidity reading only adds to our ability to increase production. If I had a choice, I would love to have a 15 degree night with humidity under 60%. Now that is some great snowmaking. If you would like check out www.wkiwnowstar.com and click on the snowmaking page for an article I wrote this summer........
ed

That's A New One

Just when you think you have seen it all, you are quickly reminded to the contrary. Last night a lady was waiting in the parking lot to pick up her son. While waiting she heard some noise at the back of her van, saw a couple kids heading to the tube hill. Thinking no more of it, her son arrived and she proceeded to leave only to find that the 2 youths had wrapped the parking lot rope over her spare tire. Oops, the spare tire was ripped off and anger set in. After an angry confrontation, Ski Patrol did a wonderful job of negotiating. Order was restored, responsibility was established, calm discussion led to taking care of compensation and all were satisfied. Not the way you like to have Ski Patrol spending their time, but sometimes ya just got to do what is needed.
ed
ps.............is it really January

You Can Learn at School

What a fun week it has been. We got a chance to make snow and we got a chance to teach a whole bunch of wonderful kids how to ski this week. Many local schools incorporate learning to ski into their school curiculum. Bill Collett has been a big advocate of giving the kids an opportunity to experience winter fun. He has been bringing kids from Bettendorf out for years and even drives the bus. Bill believes it provides kids with a chance to learn a fun, fit activity that can be shared with friends and family for a lifetime. If ya think about it, how true that is. I have been going to see my kid participate in sports for years. I do not play soccer with him, nor can I step out onto the football field with him. But we sure have fun skiing together.
We also got a chance to host a great bunch of kids from Keokuk and Muscatine this past week.
Today we get have fun with the kids from the WACO school district.
School can teach your kids something that is fun and keeps them fits. Share it with them, you will not regret it.

Heat Goes On-Chapter 34

Unreal..........Today is day 34 of consecutive days with above normal temps........actually much above normal temps! Over this time frame, daytime temps have averaged about 13 degrees above normal. Think about that. If it was the middle of July and we had 34 straight days like this .......that would be 34 straight days with temps in the low 100's for an average!!!!
Let us quickly look at the over night lows if this pattern ocurred in July........ Overnight lows have averaged about 20 dgrees above normal.........Put this is July terms and that would mean over this time frame temps at night would average in the upper 80's!
Can you imagine what the media would be saying if we went through 34 straingt days of daytime highs consistently in the low 100's and the overnight lows were in the upper 80's.
Unfortunately, the trend is expected to continue..........Where is winter????????

Blanket of Clouds

So that is what they mean by a blanket of clouds. Clouds do act as a blanket and keep things warm underneath. That was no more evident than last night. Snowmakers were on call and waiting for temps to drop..............It never happened until about 5:45 am this morning. The clouds hung around all night and so did the warm temps. When the clouds broke at 5:30, the temps began to fall. In that hour of clear skies between 5:30 and 6:30 the temp went from 29 to 21 degrees. As a result, we got an hour of snowmaking instead of 10 hours of snowmaking.
The culprit was those darn clouds. It was even more evident just north of here where temps dropped as much as 25 degrees in a 3 hour period after the clouds lifted. When you are here all night making snow, the clouds often times are not a friend at all.
ed

Talk of Snow Does It All

This is it..........This is our very first chance at a significant snowfall. We have picked up a couple inches here and there in mid December, but this is the very fisrt talk of a snowstorm of the season. It is amazing how the talk of a snowstorm......even though we are talking only 3 to 4 inches........the mere talk of snowfall makes the phones here at the area literally ring off the hook. We have had excellent snow coverage at the area, but it is the snow in your back yard that gets the masses excited about skiing/boarding. Do not get me wrong I am as excited as anyone about snow falling.......but the reality of it is that the skiing was just as good yesterday as it will be tomorrow after the snow. Unfortunately the market is driven by snow in your backyard, but with modern snowmaking technology......skiing is available and very good whether you have snow in your backyard or not. I have to admit that fresh snowfall does add to the ambiance of that "feel good about winter" feeling and the added beauty of a snowcovered countryside....................let it snow.
ed

Snow Lovers Can Still Winter

What is up with this weather? Today, we will experience the 27th consecutive day of above normal temps. Not only has it been above normal, but it is much above. During this stretch, the day time highs have averaged 15 degrees above the norm........AND the overnight lows have been even more bizarre, averaging 22 degrees above the norm......!
We did get a great shot at snowmaking Tuesday night. It got down to 21 degrees with low humidity.....Had 31 gun going and laid down some great snow......plenty to get us through these warm days. All the local weather forecasters assured me that we would see several inches of snow Friday and a beautiful weekend.............
Just because you have no snow in your backyard, does not mean that snow enthusiasts are not out enjoying the spring temps on trails covered with snow.
ed

All in the Job

Snowmaking is everything. Every time we make snow........everything has to work ......all the time. Last chance we had to make snow, one of the disconnects did not seem to work. After about 20 minutes of troubleshooting the gun's plug and connection, we moved on to a different location and all worked well. But we still desperately needed snow at that location of the problem electrical disconnect. No time to deal with it in the middle of the night when more guns needed to be deployed asap to take advantage of the rare few hours of cold temps that we seem to find so hard to be blessed with. Upon further review the next day, we determined that the problem was an underground electrical feed that had gone bad. Fortunately Scott(Mr T) had an extra feed coming from a downhill diconnect that was available. Simple solution, right. After 6 hours of sorting out and identifying several bundles of wire at 3 different boxes, the electrical service was re-routed and we are good to make snow again at that location.
Glad I got someone around that understands the wonders of electricity!

Hoping History Is Behind Us

Hello to all:
Well, we finally got a few hours of snowmaking to freshen things up.........It is amazing what a simple 6 hour period of 23 degrees can do. That is all we are asking for..
We have just come out of a horrendous stretch of weather. Hoping that is history too. We have been closed for the last 12 days..........Never Happened before. Just give me a few hours of low 20's once in and it will never happen again.........not too much to ask is it??????
Lord Only Knows How Wonderful It Would Be If It Snowed......................
ed

The Heat Goes On

Well here we go again. They tell me it is going to be in the low50's today. Please go away, I am so tired of hearing the media talk about how wonderful this weather is! Still looking at a cold front on Friday...........
As of right now we plan to start pushing old snow around on Friday and hopefully make some fresh stuff Friday night. If it all falls into place we will be open Saturday morning.
In my 25 years here, I have seen some funky weather...........But this last 2 weeks is something I have never seen before.
A quick thanks to all of you who have blogged me.........Paul, I hope to see you on the tube hill this weekend............Please leave the balmy weather in Bloomington.
Ed

Finally!

What a relief.......Afer 19 straight days where the temps did not drop below 29 degrees, we finally got a shot. Temps got down around 20 for about 6 hours last night and we hit it hard. It was not the best night of snowmaking as the humidity was high, but at least it was something. Would love something colder and perhaps that will be here Friday night if the forecast is correct.
Keep your fingers crossed.
ed

Blah, Blah, Blah

I have not posted for a few days.........trying to recover from the weather. We got hit with heavy thunderstorms and all day rain last week. This typically is not too big of a problem. The big problem is that we have not seen a temperature below 29 degrees since Dec. 22nd. Thus, we have not been able to make any snow for 18 consecutive days. Mother Nature is so cruel right now. We desperately need a clold night.................Anybody got any suggestions????
......voodoo?...supertitious ritual? .... anything that I can fall back on...........I will try anything..
ed

Go With A Pro

In conjunction with PSIA's Go With A Pro program, Ski School Director Blaine Flack just announced Ski Snowstar's 6 week clinic. The program is designed for anyone above the beginner level. We often get stuck at an intermediate level and this is an excellent chance to take that step to becoming an advanced skier. Shaped skis are full of untapped potential and this will make it possible to get the most out of your equipment. Clinics run 6 consecutive Tuesdays at 6:30pm starting Jan 10th.
COST:
-Clinics(6) and Lift Tickets(6)-----only $149
-Clinics(6) only, for those already on another ticket program----$89
-Season Pass Holders------$79
NEAT PROGRAM........give it a try
ed