Let it Snow

Isthmus, January 31, 2019

As predicted, it starts snowing in Madison around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 18. Forecasters are expecting between three and five inches overnight but Yuriy Gusev, co-founder of Madison’s Winter Festival, isn’t taking any chances. Snowfall has been scarce to this point, 56 percent below the historical average.

Gusev says that when it comes to making snow for winter sports, humans have improved on Mother Nature. So two weeks before the winter festival, he’s out at Elver Park, monitoring the city’s snowmaking equipment as it sprays artificial snow onto a mound that, after 15 hours, is 5 feet tall, 50 feet long and 30 feet wide.

“It’s so much easier to work with the man-made snow,” Gusev says. “And you can count on it. It’s going to be there for the rest of the season.”

Gusev, who also serves as executive director of Central Cross Country Skiing Association (CXC) — an organization that promotes cross-country skiing through events and education — planned on making snow from Jan. 17 until the morning of Jan. 20. But he needed some cooperation from the weather: It has to be below 27 degrees to make snow.

The snowmaking machines do most of the work, but they require regular monitoring. When a snow pile gets big enough, volunteers use grooming machinery to spread it around the park. The ski trails are groomed almost daily.

According to Gusev, the festival needs “enough snow for one mile, 30 feet wide and one foot deep.”