Tracking Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) is one great way to understand the state of our water supply heading into the summer. However, sometimes the percent of average SWE can be misleading or confusing depending on what time of year that metric is reported.
Just this week, our watershed has surpassed the mean annual peak of 28.2 inches of SWE! With snow and cool temps in the forecast, it is likely that our snowpack will continue to accumulate, meaning an above average snowpack for water year 2023.
The peak of the snow accumulation season is the best time check in on the SWE because the annual peak gives an accurate picture of how much water has been stored in the snowpack over the whole winter. Once the snowpack starts to melt, the SWE can tell us how fast the snowpack is melting and will give a less accurate picture of water supply when compared to the peak SWE.
Join us for the next Water Wise Update, when we will start to look at the river hydrograph and the runoff from snowmelt.
