Welcome to the Cold Precipitation Processes Group! Our research is focused on cold-season and cold-location precipitation events (snow, mixed-phase, rain!), as well as the associated cloud, thermodynamic, and synoptic characteristics. Much of our work is located in the mid- and high-latitude regions of the world where the climate is rapidly changing and thus impacting cold precipitation processes. Our research lies at the intersection of science and instrumentation and utilizes ground-based, airborne, and satellite observations of clouds and precipitation. Additionally, our group deploys and maintains ground-based instrument sites for both long-term and seasonal objectives.

Interested in what is currently happening with the NSF S²noCliME Project? Check out our field catalog for real-time observations and updates:

S²noCliME Field Catalog

Recent News

• Graduate students Yan Xie and Jack Richter both won 2024 AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Awards and 2024 AGU Precipitation Technical Committee Student Awards for their Oral Presentations in the Hydrology section
  • Outstanding Student Presentation Awards
  • Congratulations to the “AGU Precipitation Student Award 2024” winners!
• Graduate student Jack Richter was awarded a 2023 NASA FINESST! Congratulations Jack!
  • Students Garner NASA FINESST Awards
• Congratulations to (now) Dr. Tristan Rendfrey, who defended his PhD in August 2024! He is starting a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Colorado State University in January 2025!
• Graduate student Yan Xie has a new publication out in JGR: Atmospheres. This work examined the impact of of rain-on-snow event on surface albedo in the Alaskan Arctic
  • Ground-Observed Snow Albedo Changes During Rain-On-Snow Events in Northern Alaska
• Graduate Student Yan Xie was selected for a 2024-2025 Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship Award. Congrats to Yan!
  • Announcing the 2024-2025 Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship Awards
• Dr. Claire Pettersen and the University of Michigan are leading a new field campaign, funded by the National Science Foundation, aimed at improving forecasts of snowfall and estimates of how climate change will impact snowpack and water availability in the western U.S. mountains. The field campaign brings together scientists from the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, University of Utah, Colorado State University, and Stony Brook University.
  • Snowfall and drought: $4.8M field campaign will improve forecasts in western US, led by U-M
• Graduate student Tristan Rendfrey has a new publication out in JGR: Atmospheres. This work used CloudSat observations to show that enhanced moisture transport increased snowfall over Antarctica
  • CloudSat Observations Show Enhanced Moisture Transport Events Increase Snowfall Rate and Frequency Over Antarctic Ice Sheet Basins
• Congratulations to (now) Dr. Julia Shates, who defended her PhD in August 2023! She is starting a postdoctoral fellowship at NASA JPL in the Fall!
  • More about Julia’s work here: https://shates.github.io/
• Dr. Claire Pettersen was selected as a Mercator Fellow with Phase III of the Arctic Amplification (AC)³ project funded by the German Research Foundation. Read more about (AC)³ here:
  • The Collaborative Research Centre “Arctic Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and Surface Processes and Feedback Mechanism (AC)³” enters third funding phase
• Dr. Claire Pettersen and Dr. Aronne Merrelli were selected as part of the new NASA Earth Venture Instrument satellite mission, PolSIR. The goal of PolSIR is to observe ice clouds in the tropics and determine how and why they change throughout the day:
  • PolSIR: Pettersen, Merrelli Join NASA Mission to Study Ice Clouds
  • NASA Mission to Study Ice Clouds, Help Observe Our Dynamic Atmosphere