Please join us for the 2024 Eastern Snow & Avalanche Workshop! ESAW is a continuing education seminar for avalanche professionals and backcountry enthusiasts.
MWOBS Weather Observer and Research/IT Specialist Charlie Peachey will be presenting on rain-on-snow research alongside Laura Wilson, who spent last winter working as an intern with both the Mount Washington Avalanche Center (MWAC) and MWOBS, contributing to Charlie’s valuable research during her dual internship.
A rainstorm in the winter can quickly destabilize snowpack over a large area, negatively impact local ski areas and economies, and ruin a backcountry enthusiast’s weekend plans. Therefore, our goal is to evaluate when these events are most likely to occur and how big they are when they occur by utilizing Mount Washington Observatories’ unique and invaluable long-term climate data set. Our initial results have begun to show how rain-on-snow events are becoming more prevalent later into the year and have increased in the number of occurrences per year over the past 10 years than ever before. A perfect example of the impacts of rain on snow events comes from the significant event that occurred last December 18-19, 2023. Upon analyzing nearby stream gauge data, it was determined that this event caused a nearly once in an eight-hundred-year flood for some nearby streams. Therefore, it validates the need to understand these weather events better and their impacts on nearby communities.
Please visit https://esaw.org/ for more information and to purchase tickets to this event.
