Published: Dec. 19, 2016

Chances are, if you can’t sleep in anticipation of the next day’s big dump, neither can Joel Gratz. You’re likely going to wake up and read his forecast before deciding where to ski, so have another beer and leave the sleeplessness to the weatherman.

Gratz is the founder and chief meteorologist at OpenSnow.com, a weather forecasting resource that answers winter’s most important questions: where is the deepest snow, and just how deep is it? If he wasn’t such a powderhound himself, Gratz may have found himself working for a big-name weather outfit, but he’s one of the lucky few who’s decided to marry passion to profession.

Like any good meteorologist, Gratz uses radar, satellite, weather models and weather stations for data collection. None of them are necessarily specific to snow or contain information that only Gratz is privy to, but he forecasts on the micro-scale, taking one particular aspect of the weather and going over it with a fine-tooth comb.

“The key difference between meteorologists is how we interpret the information,” he says, “and, how we communicate our forecasts.”

Gratz’s interpretation draws from both the professional and the personal.  He studied meteorology at Penn State University, then moved to Boulder for an MBA and a master’s in environmental studies.

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