A automated weather station recently set up on Big Mountain’s summit will provide up-to-the-minute conditions this winter to skiers, meteorologists and avalanche forecasters .

The SNOTEL site will provide real-time updates on snow depth, snow-water equivalent, wind speed, air temperature and other critical weather data.

The weather station will fill a large data-gap in mountain weather forecasting, according to Whitefish Mountain Resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus.

The nearest SNOTEL sites are at Stahl Peak in the upper Whitefish Range and Flattop Mountain in Glacier National Park. The nearest weather station sits on the valley floor at Glacier Park International Airport.

Data from these sites often aren’t pertinent to weather conditions on Big Mountain, Polumbus said, and the ski resort has been using a commercial-grade weather station at the summit that has proved to be unreliable.

“It gave us wind speed, sometimes, and temperature, sometimes,” Polumbus said. “It would get iced over, and eventually we just gave up.”

The new state-of-the-art weather station will provide updates on the half hour that will be posted on the resort’s Web site.

“If it’s snowing in the middle of the night, people will know exactly how much,” Polumbus said. “Avalanche forecasters will benefit from having a closer look at what’s going on.”

The site’s ability to determine snow-water equivalency, important information for avalanche specialists, she added.

Several groups came together to make the weather center a reality. The Northern Rockies Avalanche Safety Workshop contributed $5,000 and the BNSF Foundation provided in a $5,000 grant. The ski resort also donated funds and will provide power, Ethernet and access to the site, while the Flathead Avalanche Center will maintain the station.

Volunteers helped install the weather station this summer just below the top terminal of Chair 1. The ski resort is currently testing the site and hopes to have the weather data online before ski season. The summit snow stake will continue to be used as back-up and for historical purposes, Polumbus said.