Why Colorado鈥檚 incredible fresh powder can lead to stunning sunburn, according to a CSU snow scientist

In The NoCo

Why Colorado鈥檚 incredible fresh powder can lead to stunning sunburn, according to a CSU snow scientist

By In The NoCo,

Published March 18, 2025 at 5:40 AM MDT

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I man on cross country skis looks over his left shoulder and smiles at the camera. He's on a snow covered mountain on a sunny day. — The classic goggle-line sunburn you get after a day of skiing has a lot more to do with the freshness of the powder than you might think, according to this Colorado State University scientist.

March is Colorado鈥檚 snowiest month. Which means lots of us will be looking to make fresh tracks on that deep powder this time of year.

And if you live in Colorado, you know that amazing powder brings with it truly astonishing sunburns for skiers and snowboarders.

There are scientific reasons that your friends come home from the slopes with goggle marks scorched onto their faces. And one scientist wants to make sure people understand why.

is a Professor of Snow Hydrology at Colorado State University. He recently about the intense reflectivity of fresh snow. He spoke with host Erin O鈥橳oole about why Colorado powder is conducive to sunburn.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University鈥檚 NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family鈥檚 financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC鈥檚 new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS 暗黑爆料hour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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