Is snow coming?
Publication Date/Time
2016-11-23T11:00:00+00:00
What can Open Data tell you about snow?
With December around the corner, people all over Europe are preparing
themselves for winter traditions and gatherings such as New Year Eve,
Christmas or other activities. While most of these activities are
taking place in the warmth of everybody's houses, for many it is also
the time of the year to go outside and have fun in the snow. Many of
Europe's mountains will soon be covered in snow and be ready for
activities such as skiing or snowboarding. Although not all countries
are mountainous enough for ski runs, many of them do collect
information about snow. With the snowmonths around the corner, it is
therefore a good moment to take a look what Open Data is available on
our portal which can tell us something about snow.

For the four countries known best for their winter sport areas -
Austria, France, Italy & Switzerland - a query on 'snow
[/data/en/dataset?country=it&ext_prev_extent=-78.3984375%2C-15.876809064146757%2C-59.0625%2C1.4939713066293239&ext_geo_input=&country=fr&country=at&country=ch&_country_limit=0&sort=metadata_modified+desc&q=snow&ext_bbox=]'
results in 83 data sets. These data sets not only look at snow to ski
on but take it into account for a number of reasons. For example is
there a French Open Data set
[/data/en/dataset/fr-120066022-jdd-6f9d3c2e-e663-4153-8d33-59df66c68be1]which
includes snow as (indirect) source of drinking water. More relevant
Open Data for winter sport ambitions are for example the Austrian one
on Snowfall and snow cover
[/data/en/dataset/schneefall-schneedecke-klimaatlas-steiermark] or the
Italian Probabilistic daily bulletin
[/data/en/dataset/bollettino-probabilistico-giornaliero]. In
particular the latter could of interest as it is renewed daily, giving
a good overview of the probability of snowfall. Switzerland on the
other hand shares Open Data on snow from a wholly different
perspective, namely how much of it can be found in their forests
[/data/en/dataset/wms-schutzwald]which is pictured below.
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/featured-data_20161123_image.png]
Also less mountainous countries are sharing Open Data sets wherein
snow is mentioned, resulting in a total of 458 sets
[/data/en/dataset?ext_prev_extent=-78.3984375%2C-15.876809064146757%2C-59.0625%2C1.4939713066293239&ext_geo_input=&_country_limit=0&sort=metadata_modified+desc&q=snow&ext_bbox=&page=3]
for the whole portal. These sets vary even more, touching upon the
climatological history [/data/en/dataset/historie-klimaat-1800---1999]
of the Netherlands to gritting routes
[/data/en/dataset/gritting-routes1] in the United Kingdom to prevent
snow from staying on the road. While not all sets can tell you
directly where or when to go ski, they do show the diversity of Open
Data available on our portal and in which forms or contexts snow is
measured all over Europe. Want to explore our Open Data yourself? Take
a look at our database and see what you can find!
 [https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/readmore-button-en.png]
[/data/en/dataset]