Boundary Conditions for Artificial Snow Production in the Austrian Alps*

• DOI: 10.1175/2010jamc2251.1
• Publication Date: 2010-01-19T17:30:32Z
• Authors: Marc Olefs; Andrea Fischer; Josef Lang
• Keywords: Wet-bulb temperature

Abstract To assess how meteorological conditions favorable for the production of artificial snow vary in time and space, wet-bulb temperatures are calculated using temperature humidity data 14 Austrian stations between October April 1948–2007 (station altitudes 585–3105 m MSL). Technical specifications guns used to define a threshold value −2°C snowmaking relationship capacity. The Mann–Kendall nonparametric-trend test is detect monotonic long-term changes air temperature, relative humidity, number days. It applied multiple times overlapping periods capture significant trends on different scales. Results show marked, common air- seasonal mean (October–April) increase +1.5° +3.1°C from 1980 1990 majority with no thereafter. days per season decreased by −20 −34 half period around 1979–2003. No were especially affected analyzed variables. estimated volume produced shows high interannual variability exhibits at an hourly resolution over last two decades.