THE WHISTLER WEATHER STORY
ABOUT
What is the Whistler Weather Story?
The Whistler Weather Story is a two-minute weather-news story for powder hounds: skiers, snowboarders, sledders and backcountry enthusiasts. The market also includes ski resorts, Heli and cat-ski operators, backcountry lodges and their clients, guides, patrollers and avalanche forecasters. And people who just like hats. The presentation leverages David Jones’ thirty-five years of weather, broadcasting, and skiing experience, focussing attention on key elements in the never-ending pursuit of safe turns in fresh snow.
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What’s unique about the WWS?
There are three elements missing in every virtually every weather forecast: confidence, ensembles and verification.
1) A forecast without an accompanying confidence statement cannot be interpreted properly. For all you know, the forecaster has as much confidence in day seven as in day one, which is never the case. The WWS is peppered with references to confidence to help hounds make decisions.
2) Although ensembles (aggregations of many different models, or multiple single model runs) have been the future of meteorology for roughly two decades, ensemble output remains absent in all but hurricane forecasts. The WWS employs an ensemble for the single greatest challenge in weather: snowfall predictions. The Super-Dave ensemble has proven exceptionally accurate. (Ok, it’s early… but what a start!)
3) A forecast is only as good as it’s verification. Verification has two forms. Quantitative verification compares forecasts with the observations and is how forecasters learn local weather. Qualitative verification pertains to client decision-making and is where meteorologists get satisfaction. Qualitative verification comes from client feedback. The WWS engages the hounds.
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What’s coming that’s different?
The 2010 Winter Olympic games prompted plenty of research in alpine weather, and forecasters learned loads during the event. The WWS incorporates that knowledge and engages top-tier meteorologists, such as the Lead Forecaster for the Games, Trevor Smith, and Jim Goosen. All the above, plus some crazy hats, make the WWS exceptional.
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Where can I find the WWS?
The WWS is available on five platforms:
Youtube
Who is Meteorologist David Jones?
David developed an interest in weather on the slopes of Grouse Mountain in the 1970’s. After graduating from the University of Alberta in 1985, he attended Environment Canada’s weather school in Toronto. His first posting was to the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre in Halifax where his interest in broadcasting led to a weekend gig at a TV station. He returned home to the Pacific Storm Prediction Centre in 1988, working the aviation, public, marine, and supervisor desks before gravitating to the media desk. By the early 1990’s David was a familiar, but not quite famous face voice in local broadcasting, appearing as a weather anchor on BCTV, VTV and doing morning radio broadcasts for the CBC and other stations.
David's passion for skiing, weather and broadcasting converged during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games where he was a liaison with the media and the emergency planning community. Prior to retirement, his final project was leading the Environment Canada side of the Avalanche Canada weather page.
With years of experience forecasting, broadcasting and just talking to people about weather, David enjoys the challenge of making the weather understandable and helping people make better decisions.
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