Montana Discovery Snowpack Contest

SNOWPACK PREDICTION CONTEST: Montana Discovery

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

 Send your snow depth and snow/water equivalent prediction by clicking this link!

Question? Email-  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!

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

Click one of the links below to see a live graph of current snow depth and SWE at the SNOTEL station nearest to your community-

Frohner Meadows SNOTEL , 6480 ft, South of Helena, MT

Contest predictions (click here to send us your prediction) 

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.  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-

All available SNOTEL data for each location starting in the 1970s (click links below) –

All data collected from Frohner Meadow SNOTEL Station.  Click to view additional years.