Researchers head to the mountains to improve weather and water forecasting tools

A state-of-the-art observing network sheds light on precipitation and river flow in the Colorado Rockies. Credit: NOAA

As aspen leaves blazed across the Colorado Rockies this fall, NOAA scientists were busy installing a state-of-the-art observing network in a remote basin near Crested Butte to study how precipitation forms in the complex, high-altitude terrain of the West Elk Mountains. Their goal: improving weather and river flow prediction in a watershed critical to the region’s water supply.

“Rivers often originate in remote, mountainous terrain,” said CIRES researcher Gijs de Boer of NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory. ”We need reliable prediction tools in these headwater regions so water managers can make well-informed decisions about how much water to expect each year.”

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