Snowmaking
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Cooking up a snowstorm is pretty simple. You just need two ingredients: cold air and water. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The Weather Notebook. At ski areas across the country, snowmakers spend long winter nights cooking up their own mix of air and water when nature fails to make snow. The snowstorm starts in the nozzles of dozens of what are called snowguns. Basically the pressurized air in each gun blasts water into tiny drops that spray over the ski slope, freezing as they drift to the ground.

Mel: "People don't realize it but we don't actually make snow. What we make is an ice crystal. And once it hits the air and falls to the ground, it's like frost in your refrigerator."

Pat: "You can control how wet you want the snow by adding more water. It's like water's your variable, air's constant."

The snow can't be too wet or too dry, so one snowmaker has to check the new batch of falling snow under the gun. Machine made snow isn't exactly like the real thing. It's more like pellets than flakes, it lasts longer on the ground, and it's more expensive. Also, when nature pulls together air and water to make snow, here on Black Mountain in Jackson, NH, the scene tends to be a bit more tranquil, than when Mel, Adam and Pat get out their snowguns.

The Weather Notebook is funded by Subaru and by the National Science Foundation.