4 ms·
Citizen scientist has measured Rockies snowfall for 50 years
- earthscienceman 2y agoNot every day a personally relevant story shows up. I've done work in that valley and with Billy. He's a special person and that valley is a special place. For many reasons. RMBL and Billy together are a beacon showing that science-for-the-sake-of-science can have long echoing impacts. I think my favorite part about that place is that there is a vague tradition for scientists to turn over monitoring gear/sensors to Billy. And his house has become a improvised monitoring station much more than the manual measurements he makes every day. RMBL and Gothic should serve as a prototype for what I wish every ecosystem had. It's deeply integrated with education of students, it allows and educated visitors, and the observations there will continue to serve the scientific community. I wish there was a network of things.
- hammock 2y agoIs there a chart? I didn’t see one in the article
- eclipticplane 2y agoHis data is on https://www.gothicwx.org https://www.gothicwx.org
- hammock 2y agoInteresting that the SWE (snow water equivalent, the “water content”) does not trend nearly as severely as the snow inches over the 50 years. It seems for one reason or another the density of the snow has trended higher over the years
- CrimsonCape 2y agoI graphed the snowfall data: https://imgur.com/DTwajbj https://imgur.com/DTwajbj The Y axis is snowfall in inches.