Mountain Rain or Snow

Did you know that most weather stations are unable to tell if it's raining or snowing? There’s still no better way to monitor what’s falling from the sky than with the human eye!
 
Mountain Rain or Snow asks you to tell them about rain and snow near you to support better weather and water resources forecasting. Your reports of precipitation type sent through the project’s smartphone browser tool will help scientists understand where current technology falls short. 

Learn More

ages

18 and up

division

Earth Science

where

Mountain regions in the USA

launched

2022

What you'll do

  • Use your smartphone to report what’s falling where you are: rain, snow, or mixed precipitation.
  • Read monthly reports of results from the project.

Requirements

  • Time: Minutes to get the app; seconds per report
  • Equipment: Smartphone
  • Knowledge: Be able to distinguish among snow, rain, and wintry mix. 

Get started!

  1. Visit the the project website.
  2. Look up your region’s keyword in our table.
  3. Text that keyword to 855-909-0798 to get your link to start using the browser-based Mountain Rain or Snow app.
  4. Report rain, snow, or mixed precipitation when it falls!

Learn More

Curious about something? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions. 

Wondering what’s been discovered through this project? Check out the Results Reports. 

Two cartoon images of identical snow-capped mountain peaks, snowflakes, and a cloud are displayed side by side. On the left, text in the cloud reads “Previously” and we see a weather station halfway up the taller mountain. In a cartoon speech bubble, we see that the weather station is reporting “Rain at 37°F.” On the right hand image, text in the cloud says “With Your Help” and we see a grey outline of a human holding a cellphone and standing on the side of a peak. The speech bubble from the phone says, “Snow at 37°F.”
This cartoon depicts both the difficulty of predicting rain versus snow using air temperature, particularly when it's near the freezing mark, and the solution proposed by the Mountain Rain or Snow: people reporting what they see via smartphone. 
Credit: Mountain Rain or Snow project
Mountain Rain or Snow logo. In a grey-blue circle, we see a cartoon of snow-capped mountains under a storm cloud, with a rain drop on one side and a snowflake on the other. The color palette is white, grey-blue, to black. Across the bottom of the circle and extending outside of the circle are the worlds Mountain Rain or Snow.
This photo of snowflakes and water drops on a branch.
This photo of snowflakes and water drops on a branch by Betty Copeland won the Mountain Rain or Snow 2023 photo contest.
Credit: Betty Copeland
On a dark blue-grey background of storm clouds, we see the application interface. Across the top of the screen are the words “ What is falling from the sky right now? Send us updates in real-time whenever it’s raining, snowing, or a wintry mix.” Below the text we see three labeled images. On the left is a picture of a window with rain drops clinging to it labeled “Rain.” In the middle, we see a black square with white snowflakes labeled “Snow.” On the right, we see a black square full of short white vertical streaks and labeled “Mix.” Below these images, we see the GPS position reported by the application. Below that, a button labeled “Send it” stretches the full width of the screen. Along the very bottom of the screen we see four icons: Submit which is highlighted in our view, My reports, About, and Profile.
Screenshot of the program’s smartphone application. The application reports your location automatically. You simply select the precipitation type that you see, and hit “send it!”

Get to know the people of Mountain Rain or Snow!

Portrait photo of a smiling man

Keith Jennings

Lynker Data analysis

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Meghan Collins

DRI Engagement strategy

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Monica Arienzo

DRI Engagement analysis

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Anne Nolin

UNR Hydroclimatology

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Nayoung Hur

Lynker Data & engagement

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Katherine Moore Powell

Engagement

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Sonia Nieminen

DRI Engagement (student)

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Hailey Bogle

UNR Geospatial analysis (student)

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Graeme Aggett

Lynker Project management

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Jessica Garrett

Lynker Geospatial developer

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