ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The observations and recording practices listed in this document were developed or implemented by the people working with avalanches in the United States, starting just after World War II and continuing until today. This work was not developed in isolation. Rather it evolved from the fruitful collaboration with scientists and practitioners in many parts of the world, including Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia. Whenever possible, the contents of this book attempt to align with international standards and standards set by other relevant disciplines.

The seed of the first edition of Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observation Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States (SWAG) was a publication of the Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA) entitled Observational Guidelines and Recording Standards for Weather, Snowpack, and Avalanches (OGRS). The CAA devoted a tremendous amount of time and money to creating and maintaining the OGRS document, which became a symbol of professional practice in North America. With the CAA’s support, the American Avalanche Association (A3) and the USDA Forest Service National Avalanche Center (NAC) provided structure and funding to collect practices from the United States and produce the first edition of SWAG in 2004. The document was revised in 2010, and again in 2016.

The list of people that have contributed to the evolution of SWAG is getting quite long. The committee that produced the first version included Karl Birkeland, Kelly Elder, Greg Johnson, Chris Landry, Ian McCammon, Mark Moore, Don Sharaf, Craig Sterbenz, Bruce Tremper, Knox Williams, and myself. The original effort could not have been completed without the support of Clair Israelson, Janet Kellam, and Doug Abromeit. Dale Atkins and Brian Lazar joined the committee for the second edition, and Mark Staples and Doug Krause (as editor) for the third. For this edition, Simon Trautman and Wendy Wagner joined the team. In addition to all these people, I want to acknowledge the contribution of the following people to this growing body of work: Pat Ahern, Jon Andrews, Don Bachman, Ned Bair, Hal Boyne, Cam Campbell, Doug Chabot, Steve Conger, Mike Cooperstein, Jeff Deems, Nolan Doesken, Pascal Haegeli, Dave Hamre, Dave Gauthier, Bill Glude, Charles Fierz, Liam Fitzgerald, Bruce Jamieson, Ron Johnson, Chris Joosen, Dan Judd, Art Judson, Tom Kimbrough, Mark Kozak, Spencer Logan, Bill Lerch, Tom Leonard, Chris Lundy, Hans-Peter Marshall, Tom McKee, Art Mears, Peter Martinelli Jr., Rod Newcomb, Erich Peitzsch, Ron Perla, Nancy Pfeiffer, Scott Savage, Ron Simenhois, Grant Statham, Ian Tomm, and Joyce VanDeWater. Instructors and students from many venues have offered constructive criticism, which has improved the clarity and focus of the text. Many people provided images for this publication and they are listed with their contributions. Our community continues to contribute to and improve this work. I apologize to anyone that I forgot.

Lastly, I would like to thank Jayne Nolan, Emma Walker, and McKenzie Long for their work on this version of SWAG, and the current members of the American Avalanche Association’s Observation Standards Committee for their dedication, patience, and the hard work they put into revising this document for the 4th edition.

Ethan Greene

Observations and Standards Committee, Chair Colorado Avalanche Information Center Leadville, Colorado August 2022