Snow Shot of America

Please check out the Snow Shot of America Google Map, found at the URL below.  Please bear with me as I continue to work on including more and more of the Snow Shot photographs.

http://snowshot.patricktmarsh.com.

Note: Hovering over a given image will result in a small popup box appearing.  This box will contain the name of the state from which the picture was submitted.   Also, if you choose to view the slideshow with the “PicLens” option, the name of the state will appear at the top of each image.

  • Tina Cartwright

    Love this!! What a great idea… heard it on NPR. I’m a meteorologist (PhD from that other school…Florida State University — tell Kevin Kloesel HI from me) turned science educator (assistant professor in school of education at Marshall University in WV). Great idea and the google Earth file is icing on the cake. Keep up the great work!

    Tina Cartwright

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  • Anne T

    Where’s ND?

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    I’ll tell Kevin hi! He’s actually one of my major professors! Glad you like it!

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    For whatever reasons – I’ll blame sheer exhaustion – the North Dakota images did not get uploaded to the slideshow last night. I just now added them to the show. I apologize for this oversight; it is now fixed. I hope you enjoy the slideshow!

  • http://www.simplyforties.com SimplyForties

    Very neat! I’d like it better if I were viewing it from somewhere warm instead of in the middle of the snow in Virginia but congratulations on executing a clever idea!

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Thank you very much! When I finish the Google Earth file, you can always download it and view it in the middle of summer when you are begging for snow! :-D

  • Alanna

    I was skeptical when our local Atlanta meteorologist mentioned the factoid on last night’s newscast, but the idea of it was delightful. Thanks for providing proof — this must’ve been a fun project!

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Thanks for stopping by! This project has been incredibly awesome to work on, and at the same time, incredibly overwhelming! I’m glad that you enjoyed it. I hope you continue to check back as I work on including the more than 700 photo emails I have.

  • http://www.tonynrynerphotography.com Tony N Ryner

    Patrick,

    What a brilliant idea, and a creative way to bring people across the nation together in celebration of snow/weather.

    Though many encountered a challenging week due to the sheer volume of snowfall, there is still particular beauty in a world turned white.

    Thank you for sharing!

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Thank you very much for the kind words! I would love to take sole credit for an idea like this, but that would be wrong. The idea sprang up from a comment by a good friend of mine, Alexis Norrin (http://twitter.com/redheadphotog), when she said, “It’d be awesome if you could get pics from every state with the snow.” I agreed and set out to see if I could pull it off – and almost did!

    I hope you enjoy and check back for the finished product in the coming days/weeks.

  • Tom Schlatter

    Neat idea, Patrick. This morning’s satellite snow depth product (0600 GMT 13 Feb 2010) suggests there might be measurable snow on the ground simultaneously in all 48 contiguous states, but I’ve yet to see photographic proof for the Florida Panhandle. Anyway, wanted to tell you that a Weatherwise reader asked early in 2008 whether there was ever snow on the ground simultaneously in all of the 48 contiguous United States. We tried to answer this question in the May-June 2008 issue of Weatherwise, on page 46, but, as you’ll see, the answer wasn’t definitive. In any case, today is somewhat of a historic occasion, even if Florida isn’t included. Tom

  • Dale

    If you have not already, suggest making contact by email with people at the Mauna Kea observatories. Actually, you may have better luck just telephoning the visitor’s station.

    I don’t know the number there, but the recorded info line
    “For current road conditions, please call (808) 935 – 6268. ”
    says there is currently no snow on Mauna Kea.

    I would still suggest contacting a ranger station for the park (don’t take the word of the guy in the booth, he’s never given me correct summit information) to see if anyone might see snow today.

    It is just early morning in Hawaii still. It may snow tonight there. In case anyone wants to keep an eye out for snow, check out these webcams & save images from them if you see snow (I’ve not seen any as of yet).

    http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/current/cams/index.cgi?mode=multi

    http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/weather/webcams.php

    http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/mlo/livecam/livecam.html

  • kali

    It looks all the same to me: cold, white, boring. This brings out the murderer in me, not the kid.

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Thanks for the comments! Based on several emails, the best I can find was that in 1977 there was a period in which there was snow on the ground in all 50 states. It is still pretty awesome to get this close though!

    Note, I removed all your contact information from the public comment. However, I’m more than happy to put it back should you want it there.

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Hi Dale,

    Why I personally did not contact people on the Mauna Kea observatory, someone posted on the Facebook webpage that they did and after a brief search, nothing was found. I also have communicated with the Science Operations Officer at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Honolulu, HI and he also conveyed that it would be extremely unlikely for snow to still be up there. It appears that it has been an unusually dry, warm winter for the mountains. With this said, it would be nice to see more snow up there this winter!

  • Max

    Hey, like your project. I think it’s a great way to bring people together this winter, though really I’m still waiting for spring and fall. I’ll be coming to the OU Meteorology School from Cleveland, OH!

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Hi Max! I’ll still be here when you do come, so let me know and we can meet in person! Glad you like the project!

  • Dr.Tramp

    Very nice. Having lived on the Big Island for a while I can tell you that laying on a nice warm beach while looking at the snow on top of the volcanos is the best way to experience winter. :-)

  • jessica

    What a COOL idea! I loved seeing all of the pictures. Nice job!

  • K. Carlssen

    I drove to the top of Mauna Kea on Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m. The dashboard thermometer on our Jeep Wrangler read 43 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind was howling and bitter indeed, but there was not a speck of snow at the top.

  • K. Carlssen

    sorry, that should read 34 degrees…don’t know how fast the wind was blowing so I can’t calculate the wind chill factor, but it was surely in the ‘teens. :-(

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    The pictures of snow that I have received were not taken from the top. They were actually taken on the north slope, down a little ways – which is where the snow would have to be in order to survive this long. On the peak, the sunlight is too direct and would result in rapid melting/sublimation. However, on a sharp north facing slope, the sunlight would be very minimal, and the ground would be considerably cooler. This is precisely where the snow was photographed. I have also been provided a photograph showing the snow patch in relation to the peak for verification purposes. Also, I am told there is still some small snow patches left (albeit continuing to shrink) in this general vicinity.

    In any event, the photos are being looked at by the National Weather Service office in Honolulu. I hope to have an update soon.

  • Arrie

    Awesome job, very happy you were successful, excellent concept .I am a weather fan (and snow lover) and wished I would have studied in the field when I was younger. Weather is a true passion of mine.

  • Denise

    WOW!! Congrats on getting this done. When I was listening to this Friday on NPR, I know you were concerned about Hawaii. So glad you got plenty of pictures to prove there was snow there!!

    This is awesome!

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  • http://www.jhunderground.com yim

    Patrick,
    FYI, the Henry’s Fork River is in Idaho, not Wyoming.

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Thanks for the heads up! I have temporarily removed it from the list while I try to pin down exactly where it was taken.

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  • Emily

    Sorry for all these comments [you can delete the first two from me]

    Heres a photo from RI with snow on the ground [b/c the RI one doesnt show snow]
    [I blurred the street names on this one]
    http://tinypic.com/r/34shyxh/6

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Hi Emily,

    Thanks for the photo! A couple of questions (rolled into one!): When and where was the photo taken?

    Thanks!

  • Emily

    Oh sorry.
    Woonsocket, RI
    2.16.10

    Great job with this whole project. Its really amazing. :]

  • Laban West

    Were the snow pics in HI taken on the 12th or 13th?

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    I have pictures taken from both days. Thanks for asking.

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  • Laban West

    Great Job Patrick! Kept checking on Friday for that snow in HI!

  • Laban West

    Patrick, just curious, do you know what kind of surface the snow was laying on in the Mauna Kea pictures. It looks a little like red granite.

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    I believe the rocks are a volcanic rock, the remnants of the dormant volcano.

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  • Will

    Heard about this on NPR! I was wondering if you had completed this project. Did you get all 50 states?

    Very awesome, keep up the good work.

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Hi Will,

    Thank you for the interest. I did get at least one photo (or webcam image) from every state. You can view a slideshow (containing at least 1 photo from every state) by clicking on the “Snow Shot of America” link in the upper right portion of the blog. I am still in the process of go through the 1000+ photos and ~1000 emails I’ve received so I don’t have the final project done. I will make periodic announcements on the blog updating people on my progress.

    Thanks again for the interest!

  • Tom Geballe

    Most of the summit area of Mauna Kea is made up of cinder cones, from the last stages of Mauna Kea’s volcanic activity about ten thousand years ago. The snow is lying on some of that cinder.

    Mauna Kea actually had a glacier on it during the last ice age. That glacier exposed a lot of rock near the summit, somewhat below where the pics were taken. There is a very prominent terminal moraine at about the 12,000 foot level, and you can actually see big rocks left by the glacier high up on some of the cinder cones just above that. There is also evidence that at one time the volcano was erupting under the glacier, as you can easily find some very dense blue rock along the path of the glacier. A trained geologist could comment further. Aloha.

  • Anne

    Patrick- how do we know which state & city the pictures are from.

  • http://www.patricktmarsh.com pmarsh

    Hi Anne, If you mouse over the pictures (when not in slideshow mode) you the State, City, and name of the person who took the photo will be a popup. If you choose the “slideshow” option, there is no method I’ve discovered to show the state name. If you choose the “PicLens” option, the information that pops up when hovering will be located along the top of the presentation.

    If I had to choose a preferred way to view the photos, I’d choose the “PicLens” option.

    Thanks for the interest!

  • Jen

    That’s a really cool picture from Louisiana!

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