Module 2: Snow Precipitation

Recommended completion date: June 19th

SECTION 1: LEARN

Welcome to the Snow Precipitation module. Our focus is to help you think about Idaho's snowpack and water supply. Specifically we will be thinking and learning about how snowpacks act as reservoirs of water across the arid, intermountain west. We will again use CODAP as a tool to model and analyze the corresponding data sets. We will also utilize Flipgrid and Padlet to share ideas with each other.

INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE CONTEXT

Opening Activity

View the intro video linked here.

Based on this video and your own Idaho experience, share some of your initial thoughts about these three essential questions via the Padlet for your grade level, linked below.

How might we describe Idaho's annual snowpack?
What variables are associated with a snowpack? In other words, what quantities would we want to record about a snowpack?
How would we know if Idaho's snowpack is changing over time? Who would those change affect?

Share your thoughts on Padlet:

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grades 8 & 9

Grades 10+

Learn more about snowpack

The following mini-lecture and short reading will go into more depth about how and why scientists study Idaho's snowpack. You'll also learn about the different data sets you'll be analyzing in the next section.

Resources

Depending on your familiarity with the water cycle and topographic maps, you might examine some of the items below before you engage with the mini-lecture and reading. Note that "hydrology" is the study of the quantity and quality of water on earth, including how it is stored, distributed, and moves.

Snowpack is related to one part of the water cycle. If you want a quick refresher these infographics might be helpful.
- Interactive Water Cycle (you can choose beginner, intermediate, or advanced)
- Water Cycle Diagram
The mini-lecture contains a topographic map of a watershed in Owyhee. If you (or your students) are new to looking at topographic maps, these diagrams might be helpful.
- What is a watershed? (1 minute video)
- What is a watershed? (diagram)
- Reynolds Creek Watershed Topography (diagram)

Access the associated slides (with embedded links)

Mini-Lecture

This video starts to examine the questions you addressed in the above Padlet in more depth.

How do we describe Idaho's annual snowpack?
What variables are associated with a snowpack?
How do we know Idaho's snowpack changing?

The video is embedded in EdPuzzle so you'll be asked occasionally to respond to embedded questions.

Watch this video in EdPuzzle

Reading

Please read this 2-page report, EPA 430-F-16-014, which was mentioned in the mini-lecture.

PART A

Use Data to Investigate Questions about Snowpack

You are going to investigate 2-4 questions.

These questions are about the snowpack data sets from Idaho SNOTEL stations. The questions examine the data from...

a time perspective, looking across several years for one station.
an average annual perspective across a few stations.
a spatial or geographic perspective.

You'll want to take notes, save CODAP workspaces, and/or take screenshots about your discoveries around each question.

Idaho Elevation Map from www.nrcs.usda.gov

Question 1: Where are (and aren't) the SNOTEL Stations?

The data set linked below includes geographic information for each site including elevation, county, and latitude/longitude.

Download SNOTEL location & peak snowpack characteristic and upload it to CODAP (Data Guide).

It will be useful to make a map. If data contains latitude and longitude column headings, you can use the CODAP map tool to show geographic locations. CODAP will color the points according to different variables if you drag a column from the data table onto the map. You can change the point color scheme with the paintbrush tool on the right side of the map.

Look at where the stations are (and where they are not) geographically, by county, and in terms of elevation. Save your map to use for the following questions.

SNOTEL Station in Idaho (www.nrcs.usda.gov)

Question 2: How does snowpack vary over time at one station?

Now we're going to look at daily snowpack data for one station over time, starting from the year the station began collecting data (e.g. 1981) to the present.

Choose one site to focus on from your Question 1 map. Download that site's Daily Annual SNOTEL data file and upload it to CODAP (Data Guide). It will prompt you to sample the data. Choose the option of regular intervals.

You might consider...

patterns you observe from year to year in snowpack depth.
what the maximum (peak) snowpack depth peak represents each year.
what the drop to 0 inches represents.
the day on which the maximum snow depth occurs each year and whether that day varies year to year.
how you identify good snow years and a bad snow years.
whether the melt period is consistent from year to year.
if we see differences between early years and later years.

NOTE: These questions were for the snowpack depth. You might also want to think about these questions but for the other parameters you have access to (e.g. SWE).

Comparing a few SNOTEL Stations across Idaho (www.nrcs.usda.gov)

Question 3: How does snowpack at different stations compare for an "average" year?

In the data set linked below, daily snowpack measures like you examined in Question 2 have been averaged over 1999-2019. For example, "Snow.Depth_mean" for water day 159 averages the snow depth on water day 159 for that station over 1999-2019.

Choose 3-4 more sites from your Question 1 map to examine in addition to your Question 2 site, keeping in mind geographic and elevation differences. Download the data for the chosen sites from Daily Summarized SNOTEL data , and upload to CODAP (Data Guide). It will again prompt you to sample the data. Compare attributes across your chosen sites, keeping in mind geographic influence.

You might consider...

the "water" day of the year when the snowpack reaches max depth.
the "water" day of the year when the snowpack completely melts.
length of time for the snowpack to accumulate and then to melt.
differences between the mean and median maximum snow depth.
standard deviation of the snowpack depth

NOTE: Again, these look at snowpack depth. You might also want to compare the other parameters you have access to (e.g. SWE).

Satellite photo of Idaho, Jan. 2017 - NASA

Question 4: How does maximum snowpack vary geographically?

Now we're going to look at snowpack data for all the Idaho SNOTEL stations. The data set linked below includes data for the maximum snowpack for every Idaho SNOTEL station, averaged across time. The data set also includes geographic information for each site, as in Question 1. You'll create representations to visualize these data to tell a story about maximum snowpack in Idaho.

Access and download the SNOTEL location & peak snowpack characteristic data and upload it to CODAP (Data Guide).

You might consider...

whether elevation plays a role in average maximum snow depth or SWE.
patterns in the (spatial) data.

Remember, you can make a coded map of the stations and/or (x,y) graphs.

Create a Flipgrid video

Once you have addressed 2-4 of the above questions in some way based on the data, choose one realization you'd like to focus on.

Create a Flipgrid video (using the link below) that describes your one realization.

Your video might include a screen cast or pictures that represents your finding(s). Here are some tutorials for screen recording with Flipgrid, and using images in Flipgrid.