News - Los Angeles Public Library
Summary Results from the Blowing Snow Pilot Project
The Blowing Snow observation pilot project has come to an end, and we’re pleased to share some results.
As a reminder, blowing snow is defined as snow lifted by wind many meters above ground. It can significantly reduce visibility, creating dangerous conditions for both ground and air transportation. The GLOBE community was asked to capture photos of blowing snow between 1 December 2025 and 31 March 2026 to compare with satellite products that detect these events.
Almost 500 observations were submitted to the Blowing Snow pilot. Of these, 237 were tagged as blowing snow during the study period and were submitted from 12 countries plus Antarctica. Forty-six observations included at least one feature photo and 82 observations included at least one sky conditions photo. The Civil Air Patrol participated and submitted 242 observations in total. You can view the submitted observations using the map dashboard.
The GLOBE Implementation Office wants to thank everyone who submitted observations, the GLOBE Clouds team and GLOBE Observer teams who made feature photos possible in the GLOBE Clouds tool, and the team of scientists and geospatial analysts at Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) at the University of Alaska who came up with the idea and implemented the project alongside Bill Line of National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). While scientists, GINA, and NESDIS did not find corresponding observations of blowing snow from the ground and from satellite products, they did identify cases of drifting snow. NESDIS shared a web story, NOAA Satellites–And You–Are Helping Better Identify Hazardous Blowing Snow, about how ground observations are used to confirm satellite weather data products used for forecasting. Learn more in the recent GO Connect webinar on the Blowing Snow pilot.
News origin: GLOBE Implementation Office