An OU grad student attracted national media attention when he announced the possibility of snow in all 50 states Thursday.

Patrick Marsh, meteorology graduate student, posted a Twitter update stating, “If snow sticks to the ground in Florida tomorrow ... every state (including Hawaii) will have snow on the ground.”

Marsh said he tweeted the information after reading a tweet from the Weather Channel that said all 50 states could see snow Friday, Feb. 12. Marsh’s friend responded to the post, suggesting he gather snow photos from all 50 states. Marsh took the idea and ran with it.

Marsh posted information on Facebook and Twitter, set up an e-mail address to receive pictures, and placed the photos on his blog.

Someone in Arkansas saw Marsh’s tweet and contacted a friend with the AP Bureau in Oklahoma City, he said. AP ran an article about Marsh’s project, and News 9 in Oklahoma City picked up the story. Soon a story was featured on the Drudge Report.

Marsh he spent all day Friday talking to different media outlets, including National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal, ABC Evening News and Good Morning America. He said he didn’t stop to eat a meal until 7:30 Friday night.

“To think that all this started from one thing I posted on Twitter is mind-boggling,” Marsh said.

Marsh went to bed Friday night still missing a photo of snow in Hawaii.

“I knew deep down that if there was going to be snow, it was not going to be on the actual top of the mountain,” Marsh said. “Because the top of the mountain gets sunlight all day, it would actually be on the north side of the mountain on one of the slopes that may’ve stayed in the shade.”

Saturday night, Marsh was going through his e-mails and found one from Tom Geballe, an astronomer working on Mount Mauna Kea. He said Geballe sent the e-mail early Saturday morning.

“I saw that and my heart skipped a beat,” Marsh said,

Marsh forwarded the photos to the National Weather Service office in Honolulu and the evidence of snow on the mountains was confirmed. Marsh said Geballe went “way above and beyond” to find the photos. Geballe went with his son, Matt Geballe and Matt’s friend Greg Warren, and one of them essentially hiked down the mountain to get the photos, Marsh said.

Cory Mottice, meteorology senior, helped Marsh get photos of snow from Ohio, his home state.

“A weather phenomena like this has never been recorded and according to several e-mails Patrick got, many people never thought a phenomena like this was even possible,” Mottice said by e-mail. “This project alerted everyone around the world to just how rare of a phenomena this was and it brought out the inner ‘weather geek’ in everyone.”

Marsh received more than 1,000 photos and said he feels confident in saying he has a picture of snow in every state on Feb. 12.

Click here to listen to Marsh's interview on National Public Radio