Believe it or not, ski resorts use snow machines to put snow on the mountains. I was blown away when I found out (hey I live in east Texas, bite me). Several acres of coverage, takes about 8 hours and uses about a million gallons of water. Pretty crazy.
I looked and found an old paper a group of us did for a case on a ski resort
<< ...but in evaluating all of the possibilities, the air/water gun provides the best consistency and is easy to use and maintain. After evaluating all of the possibilities, we located an ideal gun that would cost $1,500. After adding the required hose, compressed air unit, electrical system, and mounting apparatus, the total cost per unit will be $3200. Each unit will be able to produce one acre of snow at 30? to 45? in approximately 3 hours. In order to cover all 50 acres already assigned to slopes and terrain, CSVR will need to purchase twenty guns, hoses, compressed air units, and mounting apparatuses. The electrical system will be installed along the pathways used by the trucks and has been averaged between all twenty units. The total cost of the new units is $64,000. The cost of compressor lines will not be a factor because the new units will be able to utilize the existing compressor lines. Since we are not certain if the used guns are salvageable enough to sell, we will not list the sell as a separate income line when generating the 1995-96 financial pro forma income statement >>
So new equipment would do 30-45 inches of snow per acre, in 3 hours using approximately 1 mil. gallons of water. That's some serious snow making sh!t.