Biology

WKU Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences undergraduate student, Charlie Loewy, Assistant Professor Dr. Zachary Suriano, and an external collaborator published a new research paper in the International Journal of Climatology.

The article, entitled “Intra-annual snowfall variability in the central United States,” was based on research conducted during the previous academic year in the WKU Climate Research Lab. It is part of a larger effort focused on evaluating how snowfall in the central United States has varied over the last 70 years, including what types of weather patterns cause snowfall in the region.

Composing the article involved many hours processing and evaluating historical daily snowfall observations. 134 different weather stations across six states were analyzed to determine if and how snowfall varied month-to-month and changed year-to-year.

A key result of the research was the detection of significant decreases in March snowfall across the study region, indicating a shortening of the snowfall season overtime.

“Less spring snowfall could translate to a reduction in transportation challenges and fewer instances of school delays and cancellations during this time of year, but may also influence water resources availability and the potential for flooding should precipitation occur as rain instead of snow,” Dr. Suriano said.

Loewy, a sophomore, worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Climate Research Lab during his freshman year. He contributed to all of the project’s components, including conducting data quality control, statistical analysis, and writing the paper, Dr. Suriano said.

“Going into my freshman year at Western in 2022, I had no clue that I would soon have the opportunity to begin research, even at such an early stage of my academic career,” Loewy said. “The knowledge I have gained about how scientific research is conducted will be invaluable to me in my future career.”

Loewy presented the research at the 2023 WKU Student Scholar Showcase in addition to co-authoring another presentation about the research at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Denver.

“We were very excited to have Charlie working on the project where he incorporated his skills and knowledge from his in-progress ESGS B.S. degree,” Dr. Suriano said.

The article, published in a high-ranking international journal with open access, helps to increase the exposure of WKU’s climatological and meteorological research and as a place where undergraduates as early as their first year can be involved in meaningful research and build skills they will take into their careers.

The complete manuscript can be freely accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8170.

For more information, contact Dr. Suriano, zachary.suriano@wku.edu, or visit the research lab website, https://zacharysuriano.wordpress.com.