NW Snow Buddy iPhone app: How To

Hey all, I wanted to post to explain how I use the new NW Snow Buddy iPhone app . I wrote the app to make checking snow related resources easier, so the following is roughly the steps I take to figure out where and when to ski good snow.

Starting from the home page of the app:



I'll usually check the Snowfall Predictions area first to see what the general snowfall amounts are going to be over the next few days across the state. When I looked on February 26th, 2011 I was stoked to see this:




This told me that Monday the 28th ("+2 Days Snowfall") was going to be an amazing day for skiing, and that Sunday the 27th ("+1 Day Snowfall") would have some new snow but not as much.


I'll then usually check the Weather Forecasts section for the NOAA point forecast where I'm going to be skiing. In this case, Sunday night was calling for 10-16 inches over night!




This is all well and good if you are planning ahead and looking at what's coming. If you want to look back at what snow has already fallen, you'll want to use the Telemetry Data section. The data here is simply the NWAC weather data (precipitation, temperature, wind, 24 hour snowfall) shown all together in a single graph. This is what the snow looked like for Monday (the 28th) at Crystal Mountain:



The graph is a little confusing to read at first because there is a lot of data packed into a small space. I'd suggest that you read this explanation first . That page contains a graphic that explains the axes of the graph and some example data. For the above graph:

(-) you can see from the 24 hours cumulative snowfall plot (green dots) that there was a total of about 16" of snow at 6am on the morning of the 28th. rad!

(-) the temperatures (orange/red lines) at 4480' (base of crystal) and 6870' (the top) stayed in the low teens to low 20s Fahrenheit.

(-) the winds (vertical black bars) were pretty high Sunday (the 27th) night, averaging in the upper 30s with gusts up over 50mph! The winds conveniently calmed down to around 10mph for the daylight hours on Monday.

(-) the blue bars are precipitation per hour. half way up the graph = 1 inch per hour, all the way up the graph = 2 inches per hour. 3am-5am on the 28th saw 1.75 inches of snow an hour. sick!

(-) the fun didn't stop Sunday night, as we can see by the green dots that another 12" or so had fallen by the end of Monday the 28th.


Still confused about the graphs? Touch the "Explain Graph" button from any Telemetry graph view to get a reminder of what things are.

Here is Alpental's graph for the storm that happened the week before. Essentially, 8-12 inches each day:




Finally, NWAC only shows the previous 10 days of data. With NW Snow Buddy, you can look back at all the data for the entire year. Simply touch the "Edit Dates" button on a Telemetry graph view and you'll get the following screen:



You can select the length of time the graph shows here, up to 5 days.


For a less epic powder example, here was a really nice day at Crystal (the 5th) with 8 inches over night. Note the little bit of warming on the 5th--good info to have as you arrive so you know to stay on higher, shaded aspects.



If you have more questions or want more information, visit the website: www.nwsnowbuddy.com/

I hope some of you will find it as useful as I do.

Dave

That's a nice app. Wonder if they make that for Droid?

We were talking last week about an app that is called Ski Buddies. It's a locator of your ski partners on the slope. Not sure how efficient it is but it could be handy if you get separated and are wondering what happened to them.

This looks like sweet app. Thanks.

Wonderful effort! Downloading it as we speak.

Thanks!

Bummer.... requires latest iOS and I'm jailbroken!

Thanks for the kind words guys.

@jodabaker - I'm hoping to have an Android version out this fall

@oftpiste - I'm going to release an update soon that drops the required OS version back to 3. All my friends with 3G phones have already beat me up over that one!

@oftpiste - I'm going to release an update soon that drops the required OS version back to 3. All my friends with 3G phones have already beat me up over that one!

Cool. Keep us posted. When that happens I'll buy it immediately and it will be - I think - the first app I've ever paid for! Can't wait to have that info handy.

looks sweet, count me in the waiting for android camp, I might even pay for that one.

Ditto. Need Android as well. Good stuff.

^ Ditto. Would be willing to pay for the telemetry graphs alone.

Cool app. Downloaded it. Some hopefully constructive observations:
1. I much prefer NWAC weather forcasts to NOAA. Don't know how others feel, but to me there's no comparison.
2. Even with explanation, the graphs are probably going to be overload for me most of the time. I might be in the minority on this, but I want to see the actual numbers, not the data's relativity to other metrics, most often. The graphs are cool, but most of the time what I really want is a trimmer or better formatted version of the NWAC telemetry. Maybe it's just a habit, but i'd like to have both options in the same app. Yeah, I can use the NWAC mobile site (awesome, btw), but for paid app I want both in one place.

Seeing that I can get everything except the graphs and snowfall predictions from the NWAC mobile site, it would be cool to see some added features in the future (especially for a paid app). Some suggestions/fantasies:
-Key Web cams (Snoqualmie summit, Stevens summit, Blewett)
-Satellite loops!
-Something that crawls TAY/TGR/NWH for recent trip reports and organizes by region. Dare to dream ;D

Great to see this kind of thing develop! Thanks for sharing.

Andy-

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'll try and put most of those features into the next update as I agree, they would be really useful and it's nice to have a single place to look at everything.

If anyone else has resources that they'd want to see included, feel free to post or email me.

AD-

This is a great app! I like its simplicity and the logical way it is put together. And I, for one, really like the big graph. It puts a lot of information in one glimpse … helpful for displaying information on a single, small screen.

I have a couple of suggestions to improve usability:

1. Cache the data for a number of days (perhaps user definable) so that the screens will still display when the unit leaves the network … so we can carry the data with us however far into the backcountry we venture.

2. The app works in compatibility mode on the iPad, which means that it still only functions as a small screen. If it were built as a universal app, the big, complex graph screen would be much more readable.

In all, I think version 1.0 is very useful. Keep up the good work.

SlipSlider

PS More functionality comes to mind. What if the NWAC (or individuals) could enter snow profiles in real time? with GPS locating?

Very very cool. Let's go android!

I took a lot of the comments from here and emails and incorporated them into a new version that is available now.

Changes include:
- now a native app on the iPad
- works with devices down to iOS 3.0
- You can now view the raw data for Telemetry graphs
- Added several Weather Forecast locations, including the Spokane, Idaho, and the Wallowas.
- Added hourly forecast graphs for all Weather Forecast sites
- Added the NWAC Mountain Forecast
- Added several Satellite loops
- Created a Web Cams section with many sites through Washington, Oregon and BC

promo codes - get 'em while they're hot! (if you use one, consider writing a review)
TEF4PKTKT6XT
HLJLAARRMYKH
FRLTJXRXEATM
3R993REW3XNM
KERA46L77W9M

and feel free to post here or email me suggestions: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Just downloaded and gave a quick run through. Very well done. Seems fast and clear. I especially like the telemetry graphs. Nice to have all the data I used to hop all over to get in one easily navigated app.

Thanks,
Ken

(ordered an iPad this morning)

Thanks!

Looks great,

I have conflicting feedback-

Keep it simple and clean.

Can sunrise and sunset times be added in somewhere? That is one of the things I find myself peeking at elsewhere...

Note: there was a small error in the temperature graphing that is now fixed.

Also, hope to have an android version out later this winter.

Nice work Dave! Makes me want to get a smart phone

yeah Dave, great work. the Android version would be this cheapskate's first paid-for app for sure...
E

Note: there was a small error in the temperature graphing that is now fixed.

Thanks Dave, love the graph and that was the one bug I found.

Ken

I Love the native iPad version, perfect for geeking out over breakfast. Any thought of adding toggles so users could turn elements on/off in graph view? I like the graph view but it is a bit dense (likely moreso on the phone)? That way you could remove some of the data if you wanted a cleaner summary. One posiible addition would total snow depth - I'd like that. Regardless a great app, can't wait to tell my peeps who may miss this post.

Should add the Muir webcam.

Looking forward to the Android version!

I downloaded it to my iPhone. It looks great!

So somewhat stupid question.....Is there anyway to run this on a PC?

Can you use a PC to emulate an android or iPad?

@endlesswinter - I've worked some of that in but haven't created a user interface for it yet. Probably will do that concurrent with the next version (iOS + Android).

@brownc9 - will do. That is an amazing resource.

Pretty amazing snows at Paradise the past couple of days!

Nice Dave,

I miss snow buddy since I switched my phone from iphone to android. You should take a look at the chrome app store for desktop folk.

Just wanted to give a bump for this app. I'm still checking it every day. Great resource for weather info in one place. Alpental telemetry today was pretty interesting. Now it needs to get cold so some of that can fill in the base!

Thanks for the hard work!

Frank

This looks pretty rad. Does it give the written NWAC Avy forecast as well?

This looks pretty rad. Does it give the written NWAC Avy forecast as well?

Yep, it basically browses to the NWAC link for whichever area/ region you select in the app so it has all the web information, but contained within the app (so it doesn't open another window). Very nifty for checking a few areas at once and not having to bounce all around the web. Interface is also clean but effective. Now it just needs to alert me on the deep days!

Still no Android version?? Please Dave? It looks like a really, really useful app....