Mount Rose Weather Observatory

High on the shoulder of Mount Rose, scientists learned to forecast water from snow. The observatory established here in 1905, near the 10,000-foot summit, pioneered snow surveying—measuring the mountain snowpack to predict how much water would flow into the valleys come spring. In an arid state wholly dependent on Sierra snowmelt, that knowledge was worth more than gold; it let farmers, cities, and engineers plan for the year ahead. The methods developed on this peak spread across the West and underpin water forecasting still. The site honors the science that makes life in dry country possible.

What the plaque says

Two miles to the northwest of this point lies Mt. Rose. On the 10,778 foot summit, Dr. James Edward church of the University of Nevada established one of America’s first high-altitude meteorological observatories on June 29, 1905. At the observatory, he carried out his famed snow studies and developed the modern science of snow survey. Dr. Church’s Nevada system of snow survey is used throughout the world today to predict seasonal water flow from precipitation stored as snow pack. In his honor, the north summit of Mt. Rose has been named “Church Peak.”

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sand Harbor — 8.2 mi
  The crown of Lake Tahoe's Nevada shore—car-sized granite boulders standing in water so clear the boats above them seem to float on air, on a beach the Washoe kept for thousands of summers
• The Flume Trail & Marlette Lake — 9.6 mi
  The other thing the Comstock took off Lake Tahoe—not its trees but its water, hauled over a mountain range through the highest-pressure pipeline on earth, on a flume grade that is now one of the country's great mountain-bike rides
• Carson City — 12 mi
  The capital one man platted before there was a territory—where the Comstock's silver became coin at a U.S. Mint and a small sandstone city that has run Nevada ever since
• Chollar Mine — 13 mi
  A real Comstock silver mine you can still walk into—four hundred feet of original timbered tunnel under C Street, where the work that built a state was done by hand, in the dark

More markers nearby

• Galena Creek Fish Hatchery — 3.4 mi
• Bowers Mansion — 3.6 mi
• The Winters Ranch — 3.9 mi
• Franktown — 4.2 mi