Clinton was born and raised in San Diego, developing an interest in mountain hydrology through summer backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada. He graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences. During his time in Utah, Clinton helped teach a snow and avalanche dynamics course and worked part-time for the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego. At CW3E, his research explored the atmospheric dynamics and cloud properties of a high-impact atmospheric river in Northern California through remotely sensed datasets. Clinton works with the Mountain Hydrology Group as a graduate student working on detailed modeling of snowpack evolution and ice layer formation in seasonal snow cover. When not lost in 10+ tabs of SNOTEL and model data, you can find him in the mountains--backcountry skiing, trail running, or gravel biking!