Preparing for the impacts of Colorado's 2026 Snowpack
We will be focusing on analyzing the quantity of this year's snowpack by demonstrating data collection, adding visual demonstrations, and interviewing professionals working in Front Range water, fire, and avalanche safety.Ìý
To incorporate a visual component to our presentation, we will create maps, and include photos to connect our data to physical locations. Our main map will be of the Mountain Research area with sites C1, Tundra, fed-sample area, elevation, and stream location (?). We will show the paths we take to sample areas as well as photos of us working in the field. This map and photos will be a great reference when distinguishing between cites. We will include graphs to visually compare previous years historical records to our data collected this semester allowing us to track trends.Ìý
We are scheduling interviews with Leila Parker, a Water Resources Senior Project Manager at City of Boulder, Ryan Zarter at CDOT/CAIC, and Eric Kennedy, a Wildland Coordinator and Captain at Four Mile Fire Protection District. The purpose is to add a qualitative perspective to our data collection in the field and learn how different local agencies might use the data we are collecting in real application for their mitigation, prevention and allocation strategies. We also want to understand how these agencies are reacting to this year’s record low snowpack.Ìý
For data collection, we are comparing measurements made at the C1 site and our single tundra lab measurement to previous snow intern data. Specifically comparing our data to SNOTEL to identify how consistent they are with each other. Furthermore, we are looking at previously record low year of runoff and comparing it to this year in adding SWE numbers and temperatures at the MRS to other parts of Colorado.