Many Watersheds Across Western United States Above 30-year Normal

Ella Boyd
·2 min read
1

OpenSnow posted a visual to X (twitter) today showing the watershed across the United States, and the weather forecasting site is reporting that "nearly every watershed across the central and southern Western US is above the 30-year normal."

The visual shows the percentage of snowpack compared to the 1991-2020 median snowpack for March 18, 2024. Red is well below average, yellow and green are below to near average, and blue/purple is well above average. See below.

The above map is based on the weight of the snow on the ground. This data is taken by SNOTEL, the automated backcountry weather stations.

Depending on moisture content, snow can weigh from 1 pound per cubic foot to over 21 pounds per cubic foot.

This map is snowing the percentage of snowpack compared to the 1991-2020 median, highlighting the differences in various areas across the west.

The northwest, as a general trend, saw lower than normal watershed levels. The southeast saw above normal levels, and the central west also saw above normal levels.

However, states like California are all over the map (no pun intended), with areas near Sacramento seeing less than normal watershed, while areas closer to Fresno have seen higher watershed amounts as opposed to their "normal", looking at the data.

Note that California is not in the central or southwest, and not part of the overall claim of those areas having above-average watershed.

While scientists believe that increased temperatures due to climate change will likely decrease snowpack in the Northwest, according to this map, while many areas are below normal, this is not a hard and fast rule.

It will be interesting to see the long term trends, as one cannot extrapolate a general consensus off one year of data on its own.

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