The Massachusetts ski area of Jiminy Peak say that their snowmaking has become so advanced that the massive machine-made blizzard it creates is big enough for the American national weather service to see on weather radar if the skies are clear.
Jiminy Peak’s arsenal of 170 to 200 snow guns includes proprietary snowmaking technology the resort developed and tested last August in South Eastern Australia. The LPX-Y Gen 3 snowgun heads, also known as “sledgehammers”, can spray twice as much water for half the amount of compressed air.
Given just 0°C in dry humidity, or −3.33°C to −2.78°C in wet humidity, the resort can cover 46cm of snow over 0.405ha of terrain in one hour. Efficiency goes up as the temperature drops.
It’s possible for anyone to view the Jiminy Peak blizzard on a smartphone weather app such as The Weather Channel, when the snow guns are at full blast and conditions are clear, by entering the resort’s zip code 01237.
