Snowpack Prediction Contest: Vermont SnowSchool
Can your classroom accurately predict the amount of snow that we will have on Vermont’s tallest mountain this year? How about the snow/water equivalent? Send SnowSchool your prediction and you could win a prize for your entire classroom! The closest class wins the prize!! Winners will be announced in the spring.
Submit your snow depth and snow/water equivalent predictions by clicking this link! Questions? Contact:
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!
The above graph is updated every hour from the Mount Mansfield SCAN Station in Northern VT. Click here to view a full page image of the graph.
Click this link to submit a prediction.
Contest predictions will be posted here:
To view the webpage for the Mount Mansfield SCAN station click the picture of the station below:
View the interactive map of SCAN stations in the mountains of VT and NH:
Want to learn more about SCAN and 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 an important source of water and habitat in the Vermont ecosystem. If mountain snow levels start to decline, we likely will see other changes to our ecosystem. 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 over 15 years of snowpack data below. NOTE: Sometime science instruments break or stop working, and the blank spots on the graph represent times when the snow sensors weren’t working properly and data wasn’t collected.
Winter 2016-17 (last year)
Winter 2015-16
Winter 2014-15
All available snowpack data from every winter since 2000:
Winter Wildlands Alliance is a national nonprofit organization promoting and
preserving winter wildlands and a quality human-powered snowsports
experience on public lands.
