upslope

September 2, 2026 New England rain event — forecast vs. what fell

event hit rate 81% MAE 0.09″ 32 mountains scored

On September 2, 2026, 14 of 32 scored New England ski resorts recorded measurable rain, peaking at 0.69″ near Berkshire East. upslope’s day-before forecasts verified at a 81% event hit rate with a mean absolute error of 0.09″ across 32 mountains. Ground truth: median of CoCoRaHS volunteer gauges near each resort (min 2 reporting).

Mountain by mountain

Resort Forecast Measured Error Call
Berkshire EastMA0.37″0.69″-0.32″✓
CrotchedNH0.28″0.36″-0.08″✓
Pats PeakNH0.22″0.3″-0.08″✓
WachusettMA0.47″0.3″+0.17″✓
Magic MountainVT0.31″0.27″+0.04″✓
Mount SnowVT0.39″0.27″+0.12″✓
OkemoVT0.34″0.27″+0.07″✓
Bretton WoodsNH0.01″0.23″-0.22″✗
Mount SunapeeNH0.22″0.23″-0.01″✓
BromleyVT0.3″0.21″+0.09″✓
StrattonVT0.33″0.2″+0.13″✓
KillingtonVT0.34″0.15″+0.19″✓
PicoVT0.31″0.15″+0.16″✓
RaggedNH0.2″0.13″+0.07″✓
GunstockNH0.14″0.06″+0.08″✗
Waterville ValleyNH0.03″0.01″+0.02″✓
AttitashNH0.06″—+0.06″✓
Black MountainNH0.01″—+0.01″✓
Bolton ValleyVT0.11″—+0.11″✗
BurkeVT0.03″—+0.03″✓
CannonNH0.01″—+0.01″✓
CranmoreNH0.06″—+0.06″✓
Jay PeakVT0.05″—+0.05″✓
LoonNH0.03″—+0.03″✓
Mad River GlenVT0.21″—+0.21″✗
SaddlebackME0.01″—+0.01″✓
Smugglers' NotchVT0.08″—+0.08″✓
StoweVT0.11″—+0.11″✗
SugarbushVT0.23″—+0.23″✗
SugarloafME0.02″—+0.02″✓
Sunday RiverME——0.0″✓
WildcatNH0.02″—+0.02″✓

Scoring fix, Oct 8, 2026: earlier versions compared each gauge report (7am-to-7am) against the forecast for the wrong calendar day; all history was rescored under the corrected rule.

Forecast = upslope's NWS-based rain forecast for the same 7am-to-7am window the gauges measure, from the last run before that window opened. ✓ = correctly called rain above/below 0.1″. Positive error = over-forecast.