WebQuest: Snowstorm

Learning Focus:

  • To learn Internet skills
  • To learn weather basics with science, math and geography connections

    North American
    Snowfall Records
  • Most snow in 24 hours - 76 inches (Silver Lake, CO)
  • Most snow in one storm - 189 inches (Mt. Shasta, CA, Feb. 13-19, 1959)
  • Most snow in one year - more than 93 feet (1,122 inches - Mt. Rainier, WA)
  • Greatest depth of snow on the ground - more than 37 feet (451 inches - Tamarack, CA)
  • Snowiest U.S. City - Rochester, NY - average of 94 inches per year
    (Source: NOAA, NWS)

    • Start Here

    Practically every location in the United States, including most of southern Florida, has seen snowfall (National Snow and Ice Data Center). As you move away from the equator, more significant snowfalls occur. Let's find out how and why some regions in the United States get more than 100 inches of snow year after year.


    First, here are the basics. Freezing cold air needs moisture (wet air) to produce snow. Conditions are ideal for heavy snowstorms when very cold dry air and warmer, moist air meet. Some areas, such as the Rocky Mountains, the northern plains and certain areas near the Great Lakes receive an especially large amount of snow.

    Click on the Web site(s) after each question to find your answer.

    1. Besides moisture, what do rain, ice and snow all have in common?
      http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wrisnow/wrisnow.htm

      Graphing Exercise
      Snow coverage for the Northern Hemisphere 1998

      Presented below is the percent of the Northern Hemisphere covered by snow by month. Take the data from this table and create a bar chart showing the percent coverage for each month.
      (Source: National Snow and Ice Data Ctr.)

      Month % Snow Coverage
      January 44.1
      February 43.0
      March 39.9
      April 30.0
      May 18.4
      June 9.1
      July 4.2
      August 3.3
      September 5.7
      October 18.6
      November 32.9
      December 41.9

      Look at the data in your chart and see if you can answer these questions.
      1. What surprises you most about the data?
      2. What causes the snow coverage to drop so much midway through the year?
      3. Why do you think there is so much of the northern hemisphere still covered by snow as late as April?
      4. What areas do you think are still covered with snow in August?

    2. What are the basic shapes of a snowflake and how are they determined?
      http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wsnocrys.htm

    3. Why do some areas near the Great Lakes get so much snow?
      http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wlakeeff/wlakeeff.htm

    4. Rochester, MN, has a colder average daily temperature than Rochester, NY, but receives only half as much snow. Why?


      (Hint: Look at this map to help figure out your answer. In what direction does the wind normally blow? What is near Rochester, NY, that is not near Rochester, MN?)
      http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/030217/030217.html

    5. Nor'easter storms can produce heavy snows along the northeast coast similar to those from lake-effect snowstorms. Compare and contrast these storms.
      http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wnoreast/wnoreast.htm
      http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wlakeeff/wlakeeff.htm

    6. How do the snowstorms in the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains get the moisture needed for snow? www.usatoday.com/weather/wmtrain.htm
      www.usatoday.com/weather/wupslope.htm

    7. Locate Mt. Rainier on the map (look just south of Seattle, WA). Give at least three reasons why this region of the Cascade Mountains is perfect for heavy snowfall.
      www.areaparks.com/mountrainier/ prkareamaps.html
      http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Rainier/framework.html
      http://www.mind.net/dlmark/crainier.htm


      Related Links
      USA Today Weather
      Area Parks.com Mount Ranier
      Weather.com