Cooperative Institute for Precipitation Systems

It originally focused on the Midwestern United States but expanded to include other areas, notably winter precipitation in the eastern U.S.[1] CIPS was formed in 2000 by the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at Saint Louis University (SLU).

The noted synoptician and precipitation expert James T. Moore was a significant player in the formation of CIPS and an active principal investigator until his death.

An original and significant collaborative partner is the National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri, especially meteorologists Ron Przybylinski, Fred Glass, Jim Sieveking, and Gary Schmocker, but substantial and sustained collaboration also occurs with many other National Weather Service Forecast Offices (NWSFOs) throughout the U.S. as well as the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and the Weather Prediction Center (WPC).

CIPS information is published in various meteorological journals[2] and presented at numerous AMS, NWA, and other conferences as well as at smaller seminars.

Research on snow-to-liquid ratios and climatology thereof, much of it by Martin Baxter, significantly advanced understanding of processes and contributed to improved weather forecasting of snow events.