Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Local snowpacks slowly rebound

Big Wood basin snowpack at 80 percent


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Recent snowfall has begun—albeit slowly—to help build diminished snowpacks in local mountains. Photo by David N. Seelig

Recent snowfall of the past two to three weeks has begun to slowly reverse what has been a steady decline in snowpacks since January in the mountains of south-central Idaho.

As of Monday, the snowpack in the Big Wood basin—which is designated as all of the Wood River Valley as well as the Camas Creek drainage near Fairfield—was at 80 percent of normal, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. In late February, local snowpacks were in the high 70s.

The federal agency tracks snowpack depths day by day each winter and compares them with daily averages measured out over recent decades. The NRCS measures snowpacks in the Big Wood basin at nine Snotel sites stretching from Galena Summit to the Soldier Ranger Station near Fairfield in the Camas Creek drainage.

Short for snowpack telemetry, Snotel sites transmit weather data remotely from isolated mountain sites to Idaho's NRCS headquarters in Boise. Eighty-three Snotel sites dot the state's high country.

To the east of the Wood River Valley, in the Little Wood basin, the snowpack is doing slightly better. According to the NRCS, the snowpack there was at 82 percent of normal on Monday.

Unless significant new snowfall arrives soon, conditions this summer may be dry across Idaho. Depending on their elevation and location in the state, Idaho snowpacks generally reach their peak depths sometime between March and mid-April.

Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com




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