February 2024 Snow Observation Challenge in the Appalachian Mountains

By: Maya Shyevitch

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest continuous conservation & mountaineering group in North America, with chapters throughout the Northeast. The AMC has been collecting snow records at Pinkham Notch Visitors Center in Pinkham Notch, NH, since the 1930s. Since the 1990s, that dataset has also included daily snow observations at the organization’s three backcountry winter huts. In 2004, the AMC began using HOBO surface air temperature sensors as a proxy measurement of snowmelt timing. All together, these sources create a robust dataset of snow data in the famously nuanced terrain of northern New Hampshire. Even so, mountain variability in snow requires your help through the Community Snow Observations (CSO) program! 

The AMC has been promoting CSO since 2017 with the goal to incorporate this additional spatial snow depth data into landscape models as we seek to understand climate change in Northeastern mountains. This year during the month of February, the AMC will be hosting a CSO competition and will award the participant who submits the most observations in the Northeast (the states of New England and New York) during the month. To participate, all you have to do is record your snow observations in the Snow Scope app. AMC membership or affiliation is not required.