Dr. Jessica Cherry, NOAA’s National Weather Service’s Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center in Anchorage, AK

Snow is a critical part of the annual water cycle throughout Alaska and provides important ecosystem services to plants and animals (including humans). Join us to look at how snow interacts with the environment in different parts of our state and how we forecast and measure it. We’ll also talk about what parts of the hydrologic (water) and ecological system are impacted with changes in the amount and timing of snow.

Resources to access at home:

» CoCoRaHS – Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network
» Citizen Science: Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network
» The changing planet, a changing Arctic: NOAA news story
» Weather-Ready Nation: This site is about readying your community for extreme weather, water, and climate events
» National Weather Service Education Page
» SciJinks – NOAA and NASA weather education website with lots of activities (precipitation simulator, grow snow crystals)
» NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory – Learning Resources – Severe Weather 101, lesson resources, student activities
» NOAA Education Resource Collection – Weather and Atmosphere data resources