Snowpack at the End of the Month

When I started snow surveys, the only electrical instrument we had was a meter to read the Bouyoucos blocks to measure soil moisture below the snow course.  Everything else was clockwork for measurements on the snow pillows, or by weighing the tubes.

Now, knowing what’s up there is as simple as typing in the site name, and watching the computer screen.  On Sunday, the 29th, we could see that Stahl’s Snow-water shows about ten days worth of blank data, but only increased from 16.9 to 18.8 inches over the month.

KOOTENAI RIVER BASIN

  Banfield Mountain    5600    8.7       11.0     79        13.8     15.9     87  

  Bear Mountain          5400    24.3     34.4     71        34.6     46.9     74  

  Garver Creek 4250    5.8       6.7       87        10.0     12.4(24)           81  

  Grave Creek  4300    8.2       10.6     77        16.2     20.8     78  

  Hand Creek   5035    6.6       7.0       94        9.0       11.7     77  

  Hawkins Lake           6450    14.1     14.2     99        17.5     20.7     85  

  Poorman Creek         5100    16.6     22.4(22)           74        27.5     37.8(22)           73  

  Stahl Peak     6030    18.6     21.5     87        18.8     25.4     74  

Basin Index (%)          81        77  

80% might look low – but there is a lot of time left for more snow to fall.