Idaho snow measurement uses SNOTEL technology [Video]

Editor’s note: The following column is being republished. It first appeared in the Times-News on April 19, 2022.

Q: I hear about the snowpack being some percentage of normal. How do they measure the snowpack?

A: “The best place to access snowpack data is either through our website or through the interactive map,” said Erin Whorton, water supply specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service—Idaho Snow Survey.

“Each dot on the map is a different SNOTEL site. The square ones are the snow courses, which are measured once a month versus the SNOTEL stations where data is measured every 15 minutes. You can zoom in to see where the measurements are taken in the counties/watersheds you’re interested in to get a better sense of where the various data are coming from.”

According to the …