Introducing Alpine Intelligence

At SnowSignals, we believe in making the most of every day. Only 1 in 5 days are powder days, but there’s always great snow to be skied.

So we built Alpine Intelligence - the world’s first snow conditions model. In this post, we’ll cover what a snow conditions model is, how it works, and how it can help you ski great snow.

Snow is an incredible substance. Of course we love sliding down it (in a controlled fashion), and it’s beautiful. Snow is also fascinating physically. As every child knows, each snowflake begins life completely unique. While skiers are rightly obsessed with freshly falling snowflakes, it’s just the beginning of the story.

Once snow reaches the ground, it begins a long process called snow metamorphism. Simply put, the snowflake structure we’re all so familiar with begins to change, and the collection of snowflakes - the snowpack - forms and shifts bonds. Everyday weather such as sun, wind, temperatures, and clouds shape these processes and result in the various snow textures we find on the slopes - pleasantly soft snow, rock-hard icy sheets, and everything in between.

Alpine Intelligence is a snow conditions model - the first ever of its kind - that forecasts what the snow surface is like.

Alpine Intelligence continuously monitors the mountain in 3D to track accumulated weather and their effects on the snowpack. To accomplish this, Alpine Intelligence combines a physical world model, terrain-adjusted weather, and snow metamorphosis model.

Alpine Intelligence’s physical world model recreates the mountains in digital form using high-resolution elevation and land cover data. Hand-tuned on top of a combination of public and proprietary sources, each model precisely captures slope, aspect, curvature, features, shelter and more across the entire mountain. Imagine Google Earth built by mountain-obsessed ski nerds.

Alpine Intelligence combines the physical world model with the latest weather observations and forecasts to generate mountain-corrected weather. Mountain topology and what’s actually on the ground (snow, dirt, shrubs, trees) drive processes like sun exposure across slopes; wind flow over ridges and through valleys; precipitation up, down, and around the mountain; and much more, at higher precision than ever before. Take the Google Earth model of the mountain and throw it in a mathematically-simulated snow globe.

Finally, Alpine Intelligence’s snow metamorphosis model accumulates the weather effects to determine how the snowpack changes over time for each point on the mountain. The model accounts for both mechanical and thermodynamic effects. Mechanical modeling includes sintering, transport, abrasion, and more, while thermodynamic modeling tracks how the snow heats and cools and melts and freezes. We capture snow states from packed powder to chalky snow to icy crust to corn and everything in between. The snow globe now has a shifting surface. The mountain is alive.

Alpine Intelligence has been tested extensively against thousands of data points spanning multiple seasons and countless mountains, and is ready to use for the ‘25/’26 season. With SnowSignals, you can access the battle-hardened forecast in an easy-to-use way.

SnowSignals simply tells you where to go any day and time to find the best snow. Powered by Alpine Intelligence, SnowSignals compares conditions across different parts of the mountain, so you can be assured you’re in the right spot and focus on making great turns.

In addition to daily ski plans, you can view the Alpine Intelligence forecast directly on the SnowSignals map to see for yourself where the packed powder is lingering or where wind-loaded pockets might be. And if you prefer exploring the mountain with your own metaphorical finger to the wind, we’ve got you as well. View terrain-adjusted sun, wind, temperature and more on the map to find the stashes no other skier or AI can.

Alpine Intelligence is the first world’s first on-the-ground snow conditions forecast that predicts how the snow surface evolves over space and time. Alpine Intelligence combines physical world modeling, terrain-adjusted weather, and a snow metamorphosis model to continuously predict for every point on the mountain how the snow melts, compacts, freezes, and more. Using Alpine Intelligence’s forecast, SnowSignals guides skiers to the best parts of the mountain at the right times, so you can make the most of every day.

Put Alpine Intelligence to work and see how it can help you ski the best snow on the mountain at snowsignals.com.

Thank you to the public agencies on top of whose shoulders Alpine Intelligence was built: NWS, NOAA, USGS.