(A Spanish ski area’s lift is buried in snow after days of heavy snowfall whilst Google reports no fresh snow for a week and minimal cover)
Google’s decision to start publishing snow reports in their search results this season has led to a large number of inaccurate reports appearing at the top of search result pages for people looking for current snow information.
At the start of the season the search engine giant were reporting a number of leading ski resorts as closed when they were open and where they were listed as open, their snow reports were extremely inaccurate for some resorts.
Although the company said it was ‘looking in to the problem’ several months ago, today when resorts in the Pyrenees have had more than a metre of snow over the last three days, the search engine lists Formigal in Spain, which has a 1.2m base at resort level and 2.8m (more than nine feet) of snow on upper runs and is currently trying to dig out its lifts (as pictured above) as having a meagre 20cm of snow cover in resort and 90cm on upper runs with no fresh snow for a week.
It is unclear what effect, if any, publishing very inaccurate snow information ahead of more accurate information provided by the ski resorts themselves and long established independent snow reporting agencies will have on safety in the mountains, peoples’ plans to travel to resorts or on ski resorts’ or travel companies’ businesses.
Google did not respond to queries to their US head office or UK press office.
