Making an observation is more in-depth than just looking at something and just seeing it. Understanding why a certain observation(obs.) is made and its connection to others is an important part of the analysis of observations. The progression of making snow, weather and avalanche obs. makes it an art. One can already start analyzing obs. and the more one looks the more they will notice. First, weather: What is happening in the atmosphere and how? Then looking at the snow surface, just under the surface and at different times what's happening through the entire snowpack to the ground. The connection of snow and weather obs. leads to avalanche forecasting. Forecasting is predicting when and potentially how big of an avalanche may occur. When avalanches occur, then avalanche obs. not only provide useful data to help improve the accuracy of forecasts but also are used to classify the type of avalanche, size and destructive force. Through the Avalanche Science Program(ASP) all of this has been instilled in me and utilized through the American Avalanche Assoc. Pro 1 certification.
Below is an example of the integration of weather and snow observations using a regional spatial scale.
Below is an example of the integration of weather and snow observations using a regional spatial scale.