How do artificial snow-making systems work?

Technical snow-making systems work on the same principles as natural snowfall. No chemical substances are added, no refrigerating machines are applied - only water and air are used.

Natural snowfall occurs when the atmosphere (being a large gaseous solution) becomes saturated with water vapor and the water condenses and falls out of solution. Air becomes saturated via two processes, cooling and adding moisture. Precipitation that reaches the surface of the earth can occur in many different forms, including snow and snow crystals.

Modern snow-producing facilities usually consist of one or more rings of nozzles which inject water into the fan air stream. A separate nozzle or small group of nozzles is fed with a mix of water and compressed air and produces the nucleation points for the snow crystals. The small droplets of water and the tiny ice crystals are then mixed and propelled out by a powerful fan, after which they further cool through evaporation in the surrounding air when they fall to the ground. The crystals of ice act as seeds to make the water droplets freeze.


Water quality

A part of the water feeding the snow-making facilities comes from the Ötzaler Ache river. It is filtered and treated with UV rays in order to guarantee its drinking water quality. The rest of the water is taken from artificially created reservoirs of melt-water collected during the warm summer months.


Ideal snow-making values

The ideal temperature for making artificial snow is a combination of air temperature in degree Celsius and relative humidity in percent, corresponding to the temperature shown on a thermometer when its mercury core is moistened with water. If humidity is very low the tiny water particles evaporate very quickly, taking away warmth from the mercury core at the same time. Therefore the thermometer shows a temperature which is lower than the real air temperature. The air humidity influences the ideal snow-making temperature much more: the more humidity the air has the less moisture it can soak up, and as a result the temperatures have to be much lower for transforming water droplets into snow crystals. The lower the air's humidity is the easier water particles can evaporate by cooling down the water droplets contemporarily. Values of humidity inside the mercury core between xy and xy °C (x and y ° F) are so-called marginal temperatures. With such temperatures snow-making is extremely difficult. The weather stations mounted directly on the snow-making systems always report changing temperatures and humidity values.