Ski resorts live and die by their conditions. When the snow is good, your audience wants to know — immediately. Not tomorrow. Not after you've had your morning coffee and opened up Canva.
This guide shows how to set up a ski conditions Instagram feed — set up once, runs daily — using live snow data, so every powder day, every fresh snowfall, every daily conditions update publishes on schedule — while your team focuses on running the mountain.
TL;DR
Connect the Snowsure API to Storylayer, pick a conditions template (Daily Conditions or Powder Alert), configure your AI caption, set a scheduled trigger or a snowfall threshold trigger, and activate. Every morning at 9am — or the moment a powder threshold is hit — Storylayer fetches live resort data, renders your branded graphic, writes a compelling caption, and posts to Instagram automatically.
Why manual conditions posts don't work
Most ski resorts post conditions manually. Someone checks the snow report, opens Instagram, takes a screenshot or builds a graphic, writes a caption, and posts. That process takes 20–45 minutes and requires someone to actually do it — every single day, at the right time, with accurate data.
The problems are obvious:
- It doesn't happen on rest days or early mornings
- The data is already stale by the time the post goes live
- The quality is inconsistent
- There's no powder alert system — you can't react in real time
Automation solves all of these. When Verbier gets 47cm overnight, Storylayer can have a branded powder alert on Instagram in under 15 seconds.
What data is available from Snowsure
The Snowsure API provides live, resort-specific snow data for 847 ski resorts across Europe, North America, Asia, and beyond.
For each resort you get:
Current conditions
- SnowSure Score (0–100) with rating: Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Solid, Fair, Limited
- Base snow depth (cm and inches)
- Fresh snow in last 24h, 48h, 7 days, 10 days, and season total
- Temperature, wind speed, humidity
- Weather conditions label (Heavy snow, Bluebird, Overcast, etc.)
- AI-written conditions tagline
Operations
- Lifts open vs total, percentage open
- Runs open vs total, terrain percentage open
Forecast
- 14-day total snowfall forecast
- Daily forecast breakdown
- Multi-model forecast (ECMWF, GFS, GEM, JMA, ICON)
Historical comparison
- This season vs 5-year average
- This season vs 30-year average
- Trend: improving or declining
Media
- Hero image (Sanity CDN)
- Gallery images
- Webcam feeds
This depth of data means Storylayer can generate genuinely useful, accurate content — not just generic ski posts.
Automation type 1 — Daily conditions post
The most common setup: every morning at 9am, post the top 3 resorts ranked by SnowSure Score.
What it looks like: A branded 9:16 Instagram Story showing three resort cards, each with the resort name, SnowSure Score in green, base depth, and fresh snow. Background is the #1 resort's hero photo. Caption written by AI in your brand voice.
How to set it up in Storylayer:
- Go to Create → Data Feeds and select Snowsure API
- Set: Top 3 resorts, sorted by SnowSure Score
- Optional filter: Country = Switzerland, or Region = Alps
- Select the Daily Conditions template
- Field mappings auto-populate (resort names, scores, depths map automatically)
- Set image source: From data source → heroImage
- Caption: AI writes it, tone = Inspiring, format = Instagram Story
- Trigger: Scheduled, every day at 9:00am
- Activate
From that point on, your daily conditions post happens automatically every morning — accurate, branded, and live before your audience even checks their phones.
Automation type 2 — Powder alert
This is the high-impact one. When a resort you track crosses a snowfall threshold — say, 20cm of fresh snow in 24 hours — Storylayer fires immediately.
What it looks like: A full-bleed Powder Alert graphic with the resort name, snowfall amount huge and centred, the SnowSure Score, and a dramatic powder photo. Caption is urgent and immediate: "Verbier. 47cm. Book now."
How to set it up:
- Select Snowsure API → single resort (e.g. Verbier) or all resorts in a region
- Select the Powder Alert template
- Trigger: Data threshold
- Field:
snow.fresh24h.cm - Condition: is greater than
- Value:
20
- Field:
- Post behavior: Post automatically (no queue — speed matters)
- Activate
Now when Verbier gets 47cm overnight, Storylayer detects it on the next 15-minute check, generates the graphic, and posts within seconds. Your competitors are still sleeping.
Pro tip: Set up separate powder alert automations for your top 5 resorts, each watching for their own threshold. One activation, five real-time triggers.
Automation type 3 — 14-day forecast post
Post the upcoming snow forecast at the start of each week. This gives your audience planning information and keeps you relevant even when current conditions aren't remarkable.
What it looks like: A forecast graphic showing the 14-day total snowfall expected, the best upcoming snow day, and a chart of the daily forecast. Caption: "Big week ahead for the Alps. Verbier expecting 34cm across the next 14 days — best window looks like Thursday through Saturday."
How to set it up:
- Snowsure API → single resort or region
- Use the 14-Day Forecast template
- Map:
forecast.total14dCm,forecast.daily[] - Trigger: Scheduled, every Monday at 8am
- Activate
Automation type 4 — Season vs history
This one builds authority and context. When your season snowfall is significantly above or below the 30-year average, that's a story worth telling.
Caption example: "Chamonix is having one of its best seasons on record. Current snow depth is 34% above the 30-year average for this date. Historic conditions."
How to set it up:
- Snowsure API → single resort
- Use a Resort Deep Dive template
- Map:
historic.vs30YearPercent,historic.trend,snow.depthCm - Trigger: Weekly, or data threshold
(when
historic.vs30YearPercent> 20) - Activate
Writing ski conditions captions with AI
The AI caption quality depends on the guidance you provide. Here's what works well for ski resort content:
Tone: Inspiring or Urgent (depending on automation type)
Always include:
- The SnowSure Score
- The specific resort name
- A concrete data point (cm, percentage, score)
Never include:
- The word "epic"
- Generic ski clichés ("shred the gnar", "pow pow")
- Exclamation marks (they cheapen the urgency)
Style reference (paste one of your best-performing captions and the AI will match the voice)
Example AI output for a powder alert: "Verbier woke up to 47cm of fresh snow. SnowSure Score: 94 — Outstanding. 145cm base. 12cm in the last 24 hours alone. This is what you booked the season for."
Posting to multiple channels simultaneously
Ski content works across multiple platforms. In one Storylayer automation you can post to:
- Instagram Story (9:16) — the graphic + caption
- X / Twitter — the score and snowfall data in 280 chars
- Ghost blog — a full conditions article with forecast data, historical comparison, and a webcam embed
One automation run, one data fetch, three pieces of content published simultaneously across all your channels.
Frequently asked questions
Which resorts are available in the Snowsure API? 847 resorts across Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and South America. Full list at snowsure.ai.
Can I filter to only show resorts in a specific country or region? Yes — in Storylayer's Snowsure connector config you can filter by country (e.g. Switzerland, France, USA) or region (Europe, North America, etc.).
How current is the Snowsure data?
Snowsure data is updated continuously from 7 sources including
ECMWF, GFS, and resort-reported conditions.
The lastUpdated timestamp is available in every request.
Can I post conditions for multiple resorts separately? Yes — create one automation per resort. Each runs independently, watches its own threshold, and posts when triggered.
What if the Snowsure API returns no data for my resort? Storylayer will skip the run and log an error. You'll receive a failure notification if you have those enabled. No post will go out with empty or incomplete data.
Do I need a Snowsure API account? No — Storylayer handles the Snowsure API connection. You don't need a separate Snowsure account.
See it in action
Storylayer's free trial includes 10 automated posts and full access to the Snowsure integration. Set up your first powder alert in under 10 minutes.
No credit card required.