Grant Will Allow Vermont to Upgrade Its Ability to Track Snow

Move over, Mount Mansfield snow stake. There’s a new measuring device in town. The iconic ruler at the top of Vermont has been the gold standard for calculating snow depth for decades. But the University of Vermont has received a grant to install snow-monitoring equipment that will allow researchers to collect better, more varied data. These advanced recording devices, which include gadgets called “snow pillows,” will help forecasting for winter sports, as well as flooding and water resources, according to Keith Jennings, the director of research at UVM’s Water Resources Institute. That’s because they’ll measure depth, temperature and snow density — “the liquid water that’s within it,” Jennings said. While the Mansfield stake is accurate, it’s not providing “information about the snow coverage that’s above it, below it or in different wind exposures on the mountain,” he added.

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