OpenSnow

Review by eFreeware

OpenSnow is a weather app from Cloudnine Weather, Inc. that is built around snow rather than around the general forecast. It combines 15-day mountain forecasts, snow reports, radar and 3D maps in one place, and it has been on Google Play since January 2014. The main reason to consider it is that it answers a narrower question than most weather apps do: not whether it will rain, but where the snow is falling and whether the drive is worth it.

The app is free to download, carries no ads and offers in-app purchases. It has more than 100,000 installs and a 4.3 average from 2,177 ratings. Those numbers suggest a settled, specific audience rather than a broad one, which fits what the app is designed to do.

Built for people who plan around snow

The clearest fit is anyone whose winter weekends depend on mountain conditions. Skiers, snowboarders, backcountry travelers and the people who organize trips around them will get the most from a tool that puts forecast, report and webcam side by side. Instead of opening several sites to compare resorts, you check one screen and decide.

It also suits weather enthusiasts who follow storms rather than ski them. The maps, radar layers and model discussion give that reader plenty to work with during an active pattern. The developer's own framing leans this way too, with a quoted pro skier describing the app as useful even for people who follow weather closely.

The severe weather side is a separate draw, and it is limited to the United States. Lightning, hail, wind and tornado risk layers sit alongside the snow tools, which makes the app a reasonable single stop for someone in the US who wants both mountain forecasts and storm awareness.

Forecasts and the daily write-ups

The core of the app is a 15-day hourly forecast for whichever location you follow, paired with a 15-day snow forecast and a powder quality forecast. Historical snow reports and conditions history sit alongside the current numbers, so you can compare what a resort is promising against what it has actually received. Snow forecast alerts and widgets push the same information out of the app and onto your home screen.

What separates this from a generic forecast is the Daily Snow. Local forecasters write a fresh regional outlook each day through the winter, covering parts of the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The developer's pitch is that a few minutes of reading replaces hours of sifting through raw model output. I'd treat that as the app's main editorial product: a human summary of what the models are suggesting, written by someone who knows the terrain.

Two forecast models sit underneath. PEAKS is the mountain model, described as up to 50% more accurate in complex terrain, while StormNet covers severe weather, forecasting lightning, hail, damaging winds and tornadoes at fine resolution. The two are described as a combined, multi-component forecast system. Whether the accuracy claim holds in your range is something only your own season can settle, but the intent is clear: mountain terrain gets treated as its own forecasting problem.

Maps, radar and terrain layers

The map side is where the app gets dense. You get current and forecast radar, precipitation forecast maps, global precipitation, and a snow depth map alongside a season snowfall map. Air quality forecasts, wildfire smoke maps, active fire locations and land boundary or private ownership layers round out the picture, and the developer lists more than 50,000 weather stations feeding the system.

For touring and backcountry planning, the 3D layers matter most. Snow depth, avalanche risk, slope angle and slope aspect can be viewed in three dimensions, which is a more useful way to read terrain than a flat topo. Offline downloads cover high-resolution satellite imagery and ski resort trail maps, so the layers you need can be saved before you lose signal.

Recent satellite maps and forecast precipitation maps were part of a recent update, along with precipitation by model. That last addition is a small but telling one: it lets you see how different models disagree rather than collapsing them into a single number, which is exactly the kind of detail this audience tends to want.

What you get without paying

The free tier is not an empty shell. It includes a 15-day forecast for your own location, a 15-day snow forecast summary, historical weather and snow reports, snow report alerts, avalanche forecasts, mountain webcams, an active fires map, an air quality map, and slope angle and slope aspect layers. For a casual user who checks one home mountain, that covers a lot of ground.

New accounts start with the full premium experience as a trial, and the developer says no credit card or payment details are needed to begin. If you decide not to buy after the trial ends, the account drops back to the free level and you are not charged. That is a low-friction way to see whether the paid layers change how you plan, and it removes the usual worry about forgetting to cancel.

The app itself is free to download, shows no ads, and offers in-app purchases. I'd suggest judging the free tier first and treating anything beyond it as a decision to make once you know how often you actually open the app.

How it compares with other options

A general weather app is the obvious alternative, and for most daily purposes it is enough. If you want tomorrow's temperature and a rain chance, a standard forecast app does that without the density. OpenSnow is aimed at the case where the forecast itself is the decision: which resort, which day, which side of the mountain.

Dedicated snow and avalanche resources are the other comparison. Avalanche forecasts and slope angle layers appear in the free tier here, which means some of what you might otherwise look up separately is already in the app. What OpenSnow adds on top is the forecast and reporting layer: the daily regional write-ups, the model discussion and the resort-level snow history.

A specialized radar or storm-tracking service is a third option, and it may appeal if severe weather is your main interest rather than snow. The trade-off is that you would be giving up the snow-specific maps, the resort reporting and the forecaster write-ups. The value here comes from having those things in one place rather than from any single layer being unmatched.

A narrow tool that knows its audience

OpenSnow is not trying to be a weather app for everyone, and that is its strength. The 15-day snow forecasts, the daily regional write-ups and the 3D terrain layers serve a reader who is already thinking about mountain conditions. The free tier is generous enough to be useful on its own, and the trial makes the paid side easy to evaluate without commitment.

The limits are worth stating plainly. Severe weather features are US-only, the Daily Snow write-ups run through the winter, and the app rewards someone who wants detail rather than a quick glance at a temperature. If your interest is a general forecast for a city, the extra layers will mostly sit unused.

For skiers, riders, backcountry travelers and storm watchers, this is a well-matched tool with a long track record and a solid rating behind it. I'd start with the free features, follow a home mountain for a few weeks, and let that decide whether the premium layers are worth having.

What's new in version 7.4.0

Thanks for using OpenSnow! This update includes: • Precipitation by Model • Recent Satellite Maps • Forecast Precipitation Maps • Bug Fixes Also, if you enjoy the app, please rate it and write a review. Thank you!