We have been working to redesign our avalanche forecasts for almost two years. Over the process we have collaborated with other avalanche centers, communication specialists, and public messaging experts. You can see the result starting on December 23rd. We will be publishing more in-depth guides and explanations in the coming weeks, but here is a brief introduction to some of the changes:
- Design: we have updated the look of the website. not only should it look more modern, but information should be easier to find.
- New Observation Form: streamlines the process for submitting observations. If you log in, the form pre-populated based on your Prefs
- New Forecast Format: the second-most obvious change. We will publish more detailed changes and guides to using the forecasts soon. Avalanche Danger will now be forecast for three elevation bands, rather than elevation and aspect. We will forecast avalanche danger for today and tomorrow, useful for planning. We have moved a lot of the text to graphics. This will display the information in a consistent format every day. In the graphics below, you can see that we are not reducing information, just re-arranging it and displaying some graphically. This streamlines the process for our forecasters, so forecasts should be out earlier.
- Forecast Discussion: the second tab on the forecasts. Forecast Discussions are issued daily, but not on a fixed schedule. Discussions have no fixed format, and may include analysis of relevant observations, technical details on the snowpack, and musings on the impact of future weather.
