Anyone riding the gondola lift at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort one bright day in January might have seen something unexpected in the glade below them: A series of figures energetically digging pits in the snow by hand – deep enough for them to then jump inside. These pit diggers intently studied the walls of their newly carved chambers, before pressing bright yellow sensors into the ice. They were in fact student scientists receiving training from the Central Sierra Snow Lab close by. … This event, its first-ever Snow Science School, saw the Snow Lab open its doors to teach a new generation the tools of their trade – almost 7,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Tahoe National Forest.

Other snowpack news across the West:

• KUER (Salt Lake City, Utah): Southwest Utah’s record dry winter is setting off alarm bells for the snowpack
• National Integrated Drought Information System: Status update: Snow drought current conditions and impacts in the West
• The San Joaquin Valley Sun (Fresno, Calif.): Kings River watershed snowpack currently far below average
• Summit Daily (Frisco, Colo.): With two months until snow levels typically peak in Colorado, Summit County is defying the below-normal trend across the state
• MyMotherLode (Sonora, Calif.): Dry January drops snowpack below average
• Western Water Rewind: In one of the snowiest places in the West, a scientist hunts for clues to the Sierra snowpack’s future