ChasePow is a free, non-commercial app that reads weather forecasts to estimate when and where proper powder will fall at the big ski resorts of the US and Canada, and suggests where on the mountain to ski based on current conditions.
For each resort we combine three weather models (GFS with the high-resolution HRRR over the US, GEM with HRDPS over Canada, and ECMWF) at the base, middle and top of the slopes, in the resort's own time zone. The 0–10 powder score weighs overnight snow (4 pm – 9 am), how cold it falls, rain, wind gusts on exposed lifts and morning sun.
A forecast is an estimate, not a promise. For the next 1–3 days temperature and whether it will snow at all are fairly reliable; exact inches are the weakest part, because models smooth out the mountains and tend to underestimate mountain snowfall. That is why we only show the next 7 days, with a confidence line under the bars.
We checked the models against measured snow (see below): in the dry interior they come up short, mostly because its snow is fluffier than the fixed snow-to-water ratio the models' snowfall assumes. Forecast snowfall is therefore scaled up by 1.5 in Colorado and New Mexico and by 1.3 in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Canadian interior; the Sierra, the Pacific Northwest and the East are shown as the models give them.
The “Where to ski today” tips are experienced skiers' rules of thumb (fog → trees, corn → follow the sun, wind → sheltered runs) applied to current model conditions. Each resort is split into a few sectors by its lifts; treat the ranking as advice, not instructions, and check the resort's own lift and terrain status.
Winter 2025/26, checked against 24 NRCS SNOTEL stations near the US resorts: one day ahead the models gave 71% of the new snow measured in Colorado and New Mexico, 80% in Utah and 84% in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and caught only 1 in 8 of Colorado's 6-inch days. In the Sierra and the Pacific Northwest they were about right. So we multiply forecast snowfall by 1.5 in Colorado and New Mexico and by 1.3 in Utah and the Northern Rockies (Canadian resorts use the nearest US factor), and compare the forecast with SNOTEL every day:
Collecting data since Tue, Oct 20 2026. Results appear once a stored forecast meets its measurement.
Measured new snow is the rise in each SNOTEL station's snow-depth sensor between 7 am readings, counted only when its snow pillow gained water too. Settling makes it a slight underestimate, so the percentages lean in the forecast's favor. Resorts without a SNOTEL station close by (Canada, the East, Aspen, Mammoth and Mt. Bachelor) aren't scored.
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Last updated 19 Oct 2026