As a young employee at the California Department of Water Resources, Frank Gehrke decided to make the annual snow survey a public event in order to connect residents with their water supply. After three decades he’s retiring from the department, but he’s not done measuring the Sierra snowpack.
California’s Favorite Snow Surveyor Retires

Frank Gehrke, former chief of California's Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, conducts a snow survey in 2016.
Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio