Basin School District: Snowpack Prediction Contest

Can your classroom accurately predict the amount of snow that we will have in the mountains above Idaho City this year?  How about the snow/water equivalent?  Send SnowSchool your prediction and you could win ice cream for your group!  The closest group wins the prize!! The deadline to submit your class prediction is Friday February 28th, 2025. Winners will be announced in the spring.

Specifically, SnowSchool wants to know your prediction for the greatest snow depth measurement and the greatest snow/water equivalent measurement at Mores Creek Summit during the course of the entire winter.  One prediction (snow and water) per group please (this should be two numbers both in inches). Example: Prediction for Ms. Smith’s Class (Group A)- 50 inch snow depth, 14.1 inch snow/water equivalent.  Enter your prediction below.

Once you make your prediction your class/group name will be added to this page below and you will be able to track and compare your prediction to the live snowpack graph as it grows (or melts) each week of the winter!

SnowSchool is a national network of dozens of education sites all working to connect kids to nature through snow, click to learn more!

The above graph is from the Mores Creek SNOTEL station. Click here to view a full page live image of the graph.

Elementary Grades Contest predictions will be posted below. Click this link to submit a prediction.

To view the webpage for the Mores Creek SNOTEL station click the picture of the station below:

Want to learn more about SNOTEL and the connection between mountain snow and water?

HISTORICAL SNOWPACK DATA: Its important to keep track of snow, how much of it there is in the mountains because mountain snow is our source of water in Idaho.  If we have less snow than normal, we could have less water available for people to use.  In making your prediction you will want to look at what happened in previous years (see graphs below), how much snow and snow/water equivalent we have on the ground right now (above graph), any data you collected during your SnowSchool field trip, and historical/forecasted weather.  To help with your predictions we’ve compiled decades of snowpack data below-

Snowpack data starting in 1981

All data collected from the Mores Creek SNOTEL Station  Click to link to view additional years.