University of Washington atmospheric scientist Lynn McMurdie has led campaigns to measure rain and snowfall in places ranging from Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to Argentina to the Eastern U.S. Now she’s among the leaders of a field campaign in Colorado to better understand and forecast snowfall in the mountains of the Western U.S.

A scientific expedition this coming winter in Colorado’s Yampa Valley will improve forecasts of snowfall and estimates of how climate change will impact snowpack and water availability in mountainous regions of the West.

McMurdie, a research professor of atmospheric sciences at the UW, is one of the principal investigators on the effort, funded with a $4.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation and led by the University of Michigan. Other participating institutions include the University of Wisconsin, the University of Utah, Colorado State University and Stony Brook University.

Read more about the news at UW News