Rain vs. Snow

Rain vs. Snow

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
There is a number that tells us how critical precipitation is to agriculture in the U.S. As it turns out, nearly half of the value of all crops sold comes from the 16% of harvested cropland that is irrigated. That said, I know I hang on every word that comes from Ron Abramovich who is a Water Supply Specialist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service or NRCS, Snow Survey out of Boise. I called Ron up the other day while it was raining. “Snow’s better than the rain but we will take it. Why do you say that? This fall we got some of the fault precipitation and that put moisture back in the ground, so that was ideal. Now we are in January and the moisture will go into the ground if we don’t get too much, it won’t run off. But really, in the higher elevations like 6000 feet and above, I would rather have all that moisture fall as snow just because of the storage potential. Our mountain snowpack's act like a reservoir and storing that water until it melts in the May –June time. Is excellent.” Ron told me that we are looking at pretty much near normal run off for this year, for this early in the year.
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