Andover Meteorologist Puts Weather Skills to Work to Win Treasure Hunt Prize

Weather impacts our lives every day, but for one Massachusetts meteorologist, the weather led him to win a prize in a treasure hunt in the U.S. Northeast. On Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, Andover resident Dan Leonard recounted tales of his adventure solving Project Skydrop, a treasure hunt for a $26,000 gold statue and an $87,000 Bitcoin wallet, at the Oak & Iron Brewery.

During the fall of 2024, Leonard — a senior meteorologist with The Weather Company, the parent company of weather.com and The Weather Channel app — used maps of beech trees on public land to identify the location of the prize. To do this, he put his meteorological training to work, using cloud formations and temperature data seen on trail cams to isolate the location of the hidden treasure, a funnel-shaped trophy made of gold that virtually blended into a Massachusetts forest floor where Leonard found it.

Project Skydrop launched on Sept. 19, 2024, and challenged participants to find prizes hidden on public land within a 500-mile radius of Washington, D.C. The only geographic clues provided to participants were daily aerial photos of the site and a livestream of the forest floor, which offered real-time temperature data.

According to an Andover News report, more than 9,000 people signed up to receive hints during the week and a half Project Skydrop was live.

In an article for weather.com, Leonard described the meteorological science he employed to track down the elusive treasure. He worked on calculations late at night for about five days, and he was up against time, fellow competitors, and the weather. 

"You never realize how big and deep the woods is until you're actually in it, trying to find some needle in a haystack," Leonard said. "At the end of the day, the meteorology paid dividends for me. It really was everything."