Enroll in The Snow Pool

A community based research project called The Snow Pool aims to make avalanche forecasters more aware of who uses their forecasting products and how they apply forecast information in the field.

This draft began as a public service announcement and quickly morphed into a few moments of self-reflection. Am I in need of some self-reflection? It depends on who you ask, and the answer likely stemming from the children and partner would be “yes.” 

Several months ago, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) and the Avalanche Research Program at Simon Fraser University announced a collaborative data-gathering initiative called The Snow Pool. (It appears Switzerland and Austria are also involved with the project. You can find links to those programs here.)

According to the CAIC site, the initiative will build “a community of backcountry users called The Snow Pool to provide feedback about how we share avalanche safety information.”

I rarely ski in Colorado these days. But the idea of an avalanche center getting a better grasp on how users use/digest forecasting products is a great one. I live in a region with a small/local forecasting center that provides observations from a few go-to locations. (They also provide a regional avalanche forecast.) Further, like most, if not all, forecast centers, the public can submit observations. As one can expect, public observations run the gamut from casual to professional in scope.