Zach Butler

Zach is from outside of Washington, D.C. and has spent much of his life in New England. Experiencing Nor’easters as a kid and working on Mount Washington in New Hampshire (home of the “world’s worst weather”) solidified Zach’s interests in studying snow. He came to Oregon State University (OSU) in 2021 and just finished his PhD in Water Resources Science in June 2025, where he focused on headwater hydrologic modeling and water transit times in relation to climate change. Zach is now part of the CSO team at OSU under a postdoctoral position with David Hill to use CSO and other data products to improve snowpack modeling across the West.

Zach spends his free time as an avid backcountry skier during the winter and fly fisherman in the summer, with the occasional mushroom foraging, while maintaining his baking skills at home. He is also your go to weather and snow nerd, working as a meteorologist for OpenSnow to forecast weather and snow information.

What is community science? Why join CSO?

Zach has been contributing to community science since he started studying weather and snow. Whether it is recording precipitation type or hail size, community science allows you to share your experience when recording the observation. These observations make a difference no matter how often you report. Working with CSO has shown Zach the significance of community science. He has seen how CSO has improved snowpack modeling, “We can show first-hand how CSO observations make a difference to improve our understanding of snowpack distribution”.