SNOWPACK PREDICTION CONTEST: SWEPs
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 prize for your entire classroom! The closest class wins the prize!! Classrooms that participate in the SWEP Winter Discovery Program are tracked as a special contest sub-group but this science challenge is open to other groups/schools as well! Winners will be announced first week in April.
Predictions due by February 17th 2023! Send your snow depth and snow/water equivalent prediction by clicking this link!
Question? Email- ashley@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!
The above graph is updated every hour from the SNOTEL station near Tahoe City. Click here to view a full page image of the graph.
Contest predictions (click here to send us your prediction) Note: Classrooms that participate in the SWEP Winter Discovery Program 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:
View the interactive map of SNOTEL stations in the Northern Sierra Mountains:
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.
