CW3E Welcomes Lisa Katz

December 14, 2022

Lisa Katz joined CW3E as a R&D Engineer 1 in December 2022. Lisa completed her Masters in Hydrology at the University of Nevada, Reno in August 2021, working with Dr. Adrian Harpold in the Nevada Mountain Ecohydrology Lab. Her research was based in Independence Creek and Sagehen Creek basins, just north of picturesque Lake Tahoe in California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains. She implemented the 1-dimensional, physically-based SNOWPACK model to simulate terrestrial water inputs from the snowpack during rain on snow events. The research found that during rain on snow, cold content of the snowpack was more indicative of liquid water inputs to the ground surface than other snowpack characteristics, namely density, liquid water content, or snow water equivalent (SWE). Prior to receiving her master’s degree, Lisa worked as a hydrologic field trainee for the Colorado Snow Survey, performing summer maintenance on weather stations in the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s SNOTEL network. Lisa also previously worked in environmental consulting after receiving her BS in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley. As part of the field research team at CW3E, Lisa will support observational efforts in the Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) Program and is excited to continue studying snow hydrology, meteorology, and climate science.