SNOWPACK PREDICTION CONTEST: SWEP
Can your classroom accurately predict the amount of snow that we will have in the Tahoe Area this year? How about the snow/water equivalent? Send SnowSchool your prediction and you could win a pizza party for your class! The closest class wins the prize!! The deadline to submit your class prediction is Friday, Feb 14th, 2025. The winner will be announced the second week in April. Please note, only classes that participate in the SWEP Winter Discovery Program are eligible, but this science challenge is open to other groups/schools as well just for fun.
Send your snow depth and snow/water equivalent prediction by clicking this link!
Question? Email- ashley@4swep.org; nick@4swep.org; kmcclay@winterwildlands.org
Specifically, SnowSchool wants to know your prediction for the greatest snow depth measurement and the greatest snow/water equivalent measurement during the course of the entire winter. One prediction (snow and water) per class please (this should be two numbers both in inches).
Example: Prediction for Ms. Smith’s Class- 50 inch snow depth, 14.1 inch snow/water equivalent
Once you make your prediction your class 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!
To see a graph of current snow depth and SWE at the SNOTEL station near Tahoe City click here!
Contest predictions (click here to send us your prediction) Note: Classrooms that participate in the SWEP Winter Discovery Program should indicate this on the form as they are tracked as a special contest sub-group, but this science challenge is open to other groups/schools as well!
To view the webpage for the Tahoe City Cross 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 California. 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 nearly 40 years of snowpack data below-
All available SWE data starting in 1980 (depth wasn’t collected until 2003)
All data collected from the Tahoe City Cross SNOTEL Station. Click to view additional years.
Winter Wildlands Alliance is a national nonprofit organization promoting and
preserving winter wildlands and a quality human-powered snowsports
experience on public lands.
