Snow Density

Snow Density

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
A chat with NRCS spokesperson Mindy Rambo regarding irrigation. Snow density and water content. “Our irrigation season, which is critical for agriculture, is dependent on the snowpack. And so there is a little bit of breathless anticipation through the first of April when we've got a pretty complete picture of how much water the snow is holding. That is called the snow water equivalent. And there's a really cool calculation that our staff uses to make that calculation so they can tell how much water is actually in any one inch of snow, whether it's heavy, wet snow or really super light, fluffy snow. Having said that, we do encourage all of our water users to go toNRCS Idaho's snow survey web page so they can take a look at the data that is specific to their basin, whether they are in the panhandle, whether they're in the southwest or whether they're in the central region of the state so they can make the best choices that they need to make.

Interesting. I never really thought about this. I guess it's intuitive, but say an inch of powder versus an inch of wet snow does not render the same amount of water.

Yes, as a typical rule, yes. Because it has to do with the density of the snow.

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