He's living proof that Reno is a world-class destination for anyone who loves snow. And not just people who want to play in it - but also scientists who want to study it.
Deandre Presswood is no stranger to digging himself out of deep snow - literally. A graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno, he’s studying snow hydrology and giving others a glimpse of the field’s quirks through his Instagram page, @hydrosciguy.
"Often I have experiences where I'm like, yeah, we're out of the woods - is like a reality for me. Getting out of the woods is a reality,” he told 2 News Nevada, smiling, during an interview in his laboratory.
He’s navigated steep, icy hills, dug equipment out of heavy snow, and fixed equipment on-the-fly in the Sierra Nevada wilderness. In one of his social media videos, he shows viewers his process for rewiring a solar panel providing power to a research site deep in the mountains.
Right now, he’s a student, but when Presswood achieves his PhD in about two years, he’ll mark a unique accomplishment: he may become the first Black snow hydrologist in the nation.
It’s a discovery he stumbled upon while he was reaching out to other scientists and organizations, trying to connect with other Black hydrologists.
"I started asking like some of the famous snow hydrologists in the world who attend conferences all over the world and in America,” he said. “I'm like, 'hey, you ever seen a Black snow hydrologist before?' And they're like, 'No!'"
Presswood says he sees it as a great opportunity to bring new questions and ideas to the field.
"I really want to represent my community because I have a different perspective than all other snow hydrologists and all other hydrologists who don't look like me or haven't had the same path as me, so I just want to advocate for people and be a trusted source of information too,” he said.
In the Sierra region, trusted snow hydrologists are especially important.
Northern Nevada’s water supply is reliant on snowpack. Snow hydrologists snowshoe, ski, and ride UTV’s deep into the mountains to collect data on snow depth and water content at measurement sites.
In his graduate program, Presswood says he’s already figuring out just how tricky the job can be.
“I would say you have to be like quick on your feet, because you can't just give up, you know,” he said. “Sometimes you go out there, you forget something. Something breaks. You've got to figure it out because otherwise the day is ruined. You have this really small window to capture the data.”
