National Water and Climate Center
| Basin Site Name | Elev (ft) | Snow Water Equivalent | Snow Water Equivalent | Snow Water Equivalent |
| Basin Index (%) | * | * | * | * |
| Arapaho Ridge | 10976 | 0.0 | 0.0 (18) | May 01 (18) |
| Bear River | 9112 | 0.0 | 0.0 (16) | Apr 21 (16) |
Aug 11 2022
What are the snow water equivalent values?
The snow water equivalent values are the average from all sites within and adjacent to the watershed. Graphs also include statistical background data, such as the maximum, normal, and minimum water years, as well as shading based on the 10th, 30th, 50th, 70th, and 90th percentiles.
How do I view historic data for a Colorado watershed?
Click on the map below to select a Colorado watershed. By default the current water year is shown. To see historic data, select the desired year on the legend.
What are the applications of snow surveys?
Common applications of snow survey products include water supply management, flood control, climate modeling, recreation, and conservation planning. … More About Snow Surveys Water Supply Outlook Reports, streamflow forecasts, reservoir storage, surface water supply index, etc…
What is the water year-to-date-precipitation?
The WATER YEAR-TO-DATE-PRECIPITATION represents total precipitation since October 1st, expressed in inches. Contact your state water supply staff for assistance.
How do you calculate snow water equivalent?
SWE stands for Snow Water Equivalent. What it measures is the amount of liquid water in the snow. If you took a height of snow and melted it, the height of the water created is SWE. For example, if 10″ of snow falls at 10% density, then there would be 1″ of SWE.
What is the water equivalent of snow?
There is a general rule of thumb that says the perfectly typical snowfall will have a snow-to-liquid ratio of 10 to 1, meaning that 10 inches/cm of snow will yield one inch/cm of water.
What percent is Colorado snowpack?
The snowpack is in a slightly better place at this point than it was last year, slightly worse than this point in 2020, and about right in between the above-average year of 2019 and well-below-average year of 2018. It is at 81% of the median peak for the period of 1991-2020.
How much snow does Colorado need to get out of drought?
Colorado needs more than 100% snowpack thanks to drought. March and April are critical months. Colorado needs more than 100% effort out of Mother Nature when it comes to snowpack, especially as we enter the two most critical snow months of the season — March and April.
How much water is 12 inches of snow?
For instance, for 12 inches of snowfall at a temperature of 16 °F, all you need to do is divide the amount of snow in inches by the snow coefficient, which in this case is 20. The result is 0.6 inches of rain.
What is the equivalent of 1 inch of rain to snow?
How many inches of snow equals one inch of rain? On average, thirteen inches of snow equals one inch of rain in the US, although this ratio can vary from two inches for sleet to nearly fifty inches for very dry, powdery snow under certain conditions.
Is the Colorado snowpack declining?
Global warming is shrinking the Rocky Mountain snowpack that feeds the river and flows are declining at a rate of about 9.3 percent for every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit increase in temperature, according to a new study that “identifies a growing potential for severe water shortages in this major basin.”
Will the Colorado drought end?
PUBLISHED: February 19, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: February 21, 2022 at 3:07 p.m. Not only is the American West the driest it’s been in more than a millennia but the megadrought is likely to continue for years, diminishing Colorado’s already short water supply and increasing the risk of wildfires, climatologists say.
What is the snowpack in the Colorado Rockies?
Mountain snowpack is a natural reservoir: As it melts out over the course of the spring and summer, it provides a steady supply of water for millions of people who rely upon it for agriculture, industry, and municipal and residential use.
Is Colorado facing a water shortage?
Already, the water levels at Colorado River and its two reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, have dropped down their lowest on record, driven by the 20-year-long megadrought in the US West and rising global temperatures, prompting the river to announced its first-ever Tier 1 Water Shortage declaration, which has been …
How is Colorado’s snowpack?
This time in 2020, it was at similar levels. In 2018, the basin’s snowpack reached 2.4 inches of SWE on May 7, and in 2002, the worst year over the 30-year period, it reached 2.5 inches SWE on April 16. Snowpack levels in various Colorado river basins as of May 12, 2022.
Why is it so dry in Colorado?
High Altitude: Denver, Colorado The mile-high city of Denver, which sits exactly 5,280 feet above sea level, has the ultimate skin-drying factors: Arid air sucks moisture from the stratum corneum, and high winds accelerate the process.
How much snow equals a gallon of water?
Say you’re using a one gallon container. One gallon (US measure) of water weighs approximately 8.3 pounds. If the snow in your one gallon container weighs four pounds then the water content of the snow is almost 50 percent which means it will take two gallons of snow to make one gallon of water.
How much water is a foot of snow?
Light fluffy snow may only weigh about seven pounds per cubic foot. More average snow may weigh 15 pounds per cubic foot and drifted compacted snow may weigh 20 pounds or more…” Let’s figure this out… There are 7.48 gallons per cubic foot of water – that’s about 62.4 pounds.
Can snow be used as drinking water?
However, if you can’t use a pot or stove, you can still convert ice or snow into drinking water. When using the methods above, bring purification drops or tablets to use after melting the snow and ice. Iodine and chlorine tablets are your best options.
How much water is in a square foot of snow?
The water content of any given cubic foot of snow can strongly influence how much the snow actually weighs. 1 cubic foot of water weighs 62.4 lbs. One cubic foot of snow usually weighs 5% to 32% of that. In the Midwest, the water content of a cubic foot of snow averages about 20%, or 12.48 pounds.
Interim Issue Resolution: Air Temperature Data Bias
The extended range air temperature sensors used at SNOTEL sites in the continental U.S. calculate temperature from sensor output voltage using a linear least-squares regression algorithm. It has been determined that use of the linear least-squares regression algorithm has resulted in a data bias.
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