Snowpack

[Glacier]

Is that the percentage in comparison to the average as of today or to the overall seasonal average?

It's the current snow pack depth as sampled on February 1st.

[strwbrrydvl]

Is that the percentage in comparison to the average as of today or to the overall seasonal average?

It's the current snow pack depth as sampled on February 1st.

Let me phrase my question differently, I don't think we're on the same page here.

Do we have 90.8% of a snow pack that we normally have at Feb 1st, or is it that we are at 90.8% of what we normally accumulate over an entire season?

[Glacier]

Ah, I understand your question now.

Snowpack by definition is the amount of snow sitting on the ground. If you have the snowiest winter ever, and then a chinook comes melting all the snow, your snowpack is zero.

As apposed to snowpack, the total amount of snow that has fallen over the winter is simply the total accumulated snowfall.

[strwbrrydvl]

That's informative but not what I was asking. *headshake* I'll try to not screw up the terminology this time and if I do I give up lol. Okie here I go (wish me luck):

As of Feb 1st we're at 90.8% of snowpack average. Is the average you are comparing it to the entire seasonal average snowpack or the average snowpack we have as of Feb 1st usually?
Are we 10% away from the average snowpack in a year or 10% behind what we normally have on Feb 1st?

[Glacier]

I think I understand now!

"% of Normal" is a comparison to the average (or normal) snow depth on February 1st. In other words, the historical average on that date.

[strwbrrydvl]

"% of Normal" is a comparison to the average (or normal) snow depth on February 1st. In other words, the historical average on that date.

Yay! Thanks for your patience.

I suppose you answered my question correctly the first time, I'm just having a "moment" I guess lol

[Glacier]

It's interesting how many places like the Cariboo and around Revelstoke have had over 200% of the normal snowfall over the past two months while the overall snowpack up in the mountains is still around the average.

And while that snow in Revelstoke is so deep the RCMP have warned children not to reach up and touch the power lines, the record snowpack building in the Dakotas is much more serious because there is likely going to be severe flooding in that part of the world when it melts.



MARCH Snowpack:

Drainage Basin....... % of Normal
VANCOUVER ISLAND --------------- 128.2
SOUTH COASTAL ------------------ 117.3
LOWER FRASER -------------------- 114
MIDDLE FRASER -------------------- 110.9
UPPER FRASER --------------------- 108.7
WEST KOOTENAY ------------------ 108.4
NORTH COASTAL ------------------ 104.5
SKEENA/NASS ---------------------- 103.2
EAST KOOTENAY ------------------- 100.8
UPPER COLUMBIA ------------------- 99
NECHAKO ---------------------------- 98.3
PEACE -------------------------------- 97
LOWER COLUMBIA ----------------- 94.6
NORTH THOMPSON ---------------- 94
LIARD ------------------------------- 93.3
SIMILKAMEEN ---------------------- 91.9
SOUTH THOMPSON --------------- 90.8
SKAGIT ----------------------------- 88.7
OKANAGAN ----------- 88.6
KETTLE ---------------------------- 87.1
STIKINE/TAKU -------------------- 76.8
YUKON ----------------------------- 74.8

[5VP]

Snowpack here (upper Kettle River), as of today, is now 210 cm...

More than twice as much as last year at this time...

[Glacier]

April 1st Snowpack:

Drainage Basin...% of Normal

VANCOUVER ISLAND ---144
SOUTH COASTAL -----141
MIDDLE FRASER -----126
LOWER FRASER ------125
WEST KOOTENAY -----123
SKAGIT ---------------122
NORTH COASTAL -----119
EAST KOOTENAY -----114
UPPER FRASER ------114
SIMILKAMEEN -------111
UPPER COLUMBIA ----109
SKEENA/NASS -------108
LOWER COLUMBIA ----108
LIARD --------------107
SOUTH THOMPSON ----105
KETTLE -------------104
NECHAKO ------------103
OKANAGAN -----102
PEACE --------------101
NORTH THOMPSON ----100
STIKINE/TAKU ------79
YUKON --------------59

[Lady tehMa]

Hey, that's good news for us, isn't it?

What has the past 5-10 years been like for levels oh great and wonderful GraphMaster? This is the first year in a while that we haven't heard snowpack-squawk that I can remember that is.

[Queen K]

Snowpack here (upper Kettle River), as of today, is now 210 cm...

More than twice as much as last year at this time...

How deep is it now and how are the solar light panels holding up?

Lady teMah, "graphmaster".

[5VP]

Snowpack here (upper Kettle River), as of today, is now 210 cm...

More than twice as much as last year at this time...

How deep is it now and how are the solar light panels holding up?

Lady teMah, "graphmaster".

There has been over 100cm of snowfall in since April 6 here.

Total base accumulation as of today is 290(ish) cm. This is @ 4700' elevation. Higher elevations here, up to 8500 ft. have between 10 to 15 ft base.

Total snowfall is over 20 ft. this year.

The road in is a luge run. Some places you just let go of the steering wheel and hit the gas...

[Glacier]

Well the cool spring has sure had an effect on the snowpack.

Here is the preliminary snowpack data for May 1st:

Drainage Basin...% of Normal

MIDDLE FRASER -------------258.7
KETTLE ------------------------216
VANCOUVER ISLAND -------214.1
OKANAGAN ------------------200.7
UPPER FRASER ---------------190.4
NORTH THOMPSON ---------178.1
SOUTH THOMPSON ---------169.9
EAST KOOTENAY -------------167
SOUTH COASTAL -------------158
SIMILKAMEEN ----------------153.5
SKAGIT ------------------------153.3
LOWER FRASER --------------152
LIARD -------------------------146.9
UPPER COLUMBIA -----------136.1
LOWER COLUMBIA ----------133.9
WEST KOOTENAY -----------130.1
SKEENA/NASS ---------------127.5
PEACE ------------------------116.2
NORTH COASTAL -----------105.5
NECHAKO --------------------94.7
STIKINE/TAKU ----------------77.4

Now to break it down further, here it what the snowpack looks like at the lower elevations (below 1500 m in the Middle Fraser and the Upper Columbia, and below 1400m in the Okanagan).


Drainage Basin...% of Normal

MIDDLE FRASER -------------422.7
OKANAGAN ------------------337.2
UPPER COLUMBIA -----------242.5

It gets even better if we look at individual stations, especially in the Cariboo.

- The Aberdeen Lake area where the City of Vernon and others get their water from is at 611% of normal - an all time record.
- The Brenda Mine automated site is at an all time record too (see the first post in this thread), but only because it's only been around for 18 years compared to the 56 year old Aberdeen Lake site.
- All lower elevation stations in the Cariboo are at record levels. Nazko (west of Quesnel) is at 780% of normal and Granite Mountain, east of Quesnel, is at 819% of normal.
- The snowpack near Kamloops (Deadman River and lac Le Jeune) is only around 500% of normal.

[chrisv]

Nice to see Aberdeen looking this good, sure a big difference from last year when we had stage 3 restrictions. Now if only the dam had been raised up already and much of this extra water could be stored for the next drought.....

[Lady tehMa]

today, nice and hot.

Are we at increased risk for flooding with the higher than normal snowpacks?