Workshop Goals and General Information:

Each year, we spend billions of dollars on snow. Despite the best efforts to keep surfaces clear, tens of thousands of snow-related accidents occur. Numerous lives are lost, many injuries are sustained, and the cost to health and property is billions of dollars.

Snow also enhances the national economy. It provides life-sustaining water to much of the West during the summer snowmelt season. Snow provides the basis for the multi-billion dollar winter recreation industry. Snow melt waters power thousands of turbines that produce clean electricity, feeding the nation’s power needs and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Given the great impacts of snow, there are obvious needs to measure it accurately and consistently for a multitude of uses. During the last decade, interest in snowfall amounts has heightened as major snowstorms and snow droughts have made the headlines. As extreme snow events are reported, concerns have developed over the quality and continuity of snowfall measurements.

NOAA maintains three major programs to monitor and model snowpack characteristics for the Nation. The volunteer Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) is a network consisting of about 11,000 stations with historical snowfall records. A second network consists of 275 airport stations known as the Local Climatological Data (LCD) sites. Lastly, the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) maintains an Airborne Snow Survey Program and uses ground-based, airborne, and satellite snow data to model high resolution snowpack characteristics for the continental United States. The workshop will review the COOP and LCD networks and the data that they collect as well as the National Snow Analyses produced in near real-time by the NOHRSC. In addition, several federal networks and projects around the country that provide snow-related information, including liquid equivalent of snowfall and snow coverage, will be identified, and their strengths and weaknesses discussed. The workshop will also present plans that will affect future snowfall measurements.

This workshop is interactive. Customers are encouraged to voice their needs for snow related observations and data and interact directly with NOAA’s NWS and NCDC personnel involved in the production and distribution of snow related products.

The goals of workshop are:

1. Update snow data users on sources, interpretation, and limitations of snow related data.
2. Provide users with information on issues and planned changes to improve the accuracy of snow measurements and the delivery of snow-related products and services.
3. Collect customer feedback on issues and planned changes.

Workshop Agenda:

Wednesday, June 2 - Snowfall Network Observations Workshop

Register for the SNOW Workshop:

Registration for the Snowfall Network Observations Workshop (SNOW) is being done separately from registration for the Data Users' Forum: Surface Weather & Climate Observations & Data workshop. There is a $25.00 (USD) registration fee for each workshop. Please use the following form when pre-registering for the Snowfall Network Observations Workshop (SNOW):

The deadline for pre-registration is May 18, 2004. Pre-registrations made after that time might not be processed before the workshop. On-site registrations will be taken at the workshop as space allows. Seating capacity in the meeting room is limited. Seating will be available to the first 150 registered participants. Everyone (including speakers and NOAA employees) should go through the registration process.

If you would like to attend both workshops, you will need to register separately for the Data Users' Forum: Surface Weather & Climate Observations & Data workshop.