Snow sciences in North America - The Eastern and Western Snow Conferences in the context of environmental history

The task of environmental history is ‘to deepen our understanding of how humans have been affected by their natural environment through time, and conversely and perhaps more importantly in view of the present global predicament, how they have affected that environment and with what results’ (Worster 1990, p. 1089). By looking at how snow has been described, defined, and classified and by asking how the study of snow fits into the larger cultural, scientific, and economic contexts of the past century, this paper offers an explanation of the significance of snow science in America today.