Big snow storms deserve respect and admiration. Snow storms are one of
the highest impact weather phenomena in the northeast U.S., affecting
everything from the winter recreation industry to transportation. The
socio-economic effects of a major snow storm can be crippling to some
and highly beneficial to others. Thus, impetus for this project comes
from a desire to better understand and forecast high-impact snow storms
to help society better prepare and react to future events.

Conception of this project occurred while brainstorming summer project
ideas in late spring 2007. This project distilled from various means,
including discussions with the Burlington National Weather Service
office, the desire to better educate ourselves and therefore our
students about high-impact snow storms, and from reading the
authoritative text, Northeast Snow Storms by Kocin and Uccellini
(2004). Furthermore, we feel this page will provide users a healthy does
of reality and fresh air in an era where modern meteorology lives and
dies largely by looking at the future and not the past.

It is our hope this project stimulates scientific discussion and
presents information for scientific analysis to improve the
understanding of major snow storms. For example, we hope to examine to
what extent and under what conditions complex terrain modulates
precipitation amounts. In the future, we will post a forum where you can
suggest research ideas, share your analysis of the data, and request data.