SNOWPACK PREDICTION CONTEST
Can your group/classroom accurately predict the amount of snow that we will have in the Northern Sierra Mountains on May 15th? There’s plenty of snow now, but how quickly will it all melt? Send SnowSchool your prediction and you could win a prize… The closest class wins a pizza party! Winners will be announced May 16th.
Click here and send us your prediction before April 30th!
Questions? Email- kmcclay@winterwildlands.org
Specifically, SnowSchool wants to know your prediction for the amount of snow (snow depth and snow/water equivalent) that will be present at the Donner Pass SNOTEL station on May 15th. Be sure to look through the historical data on this page. One prediction per group 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 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 melts each week of the spring.
The above graph is updated every hour from the SNOTEL station on Donner Pass Click here to view a full page image of the graph.
Send your predictions to SnowSchool by clicking here. Contest predictions will be posted here:
To view the webpage for the SNOTEL station at Donner Pass CA click the picture of the station below:
View the interactive map of SNOTEL stations in the Northern Sierra:
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 CA. 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 35 years of snowpack data below-
All data since 1982
History of May 15th snowpack levels-
All data collected from the Css Lab SNOTEL site near Donner Pass.
Want to look up additional graphs/years? Click here!
Winter Wildlands Alliance is a national nonprofit organization promoting and
preserving winter wildlands and a quality human-powered snowsports
experience on public lands.
