[Rockhounds] Nifty snowpack link...

[Julie Siebel]

Holy snowman! If I'm reading this right, at Mule Creek there's still more 
than 4.5 feet of snow! It's about 500 feet higher than Crystal Park, but 
still...  lol. Last year on May 10th, the snow water equivalent for Mule 
Creek was 11 inches; today it's 18.3 inches. Their pecent of average must be 
based on something other than the average of "today" over the years. (They 
don't seem to keep historical snow depth data.) Last year, on June 1st snow 
water equivalent was 1/2 inch. This year? Hard to say...maybe we'll call a 
Butte rockshop before we leave Lewistown. I'm guessing there's a good 
possibility that we won't be able to do Crystal Park though...guess we'll 
just have to go back in August! lol

It looks like Calvert Hill has a chance of being OK, and if nothing else 
there are lots of places between Lewistown and home to check out.

Julie



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lanny R" <lanny.r at roadrunner.com>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Nifty snowpack link...


> Hi Julie,
>
> Thanks for the Snotel files. I checked where the sites were located by 
> going to the Snotel web site and map, for Montana:
> http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Montana/montana.html
>
> On the text file you are using, look under "Missouri Headwaters."  Calvert 
> Creek is listed. From looking at the web site for the Snotel  individual 
> sites, I see that the measuring site is on the Calvert  Creek that is 
> about a dozen miles west of Calvert Hill. There also is  a Calvert Creek 
> on the south side of Calvert Hill; kind of unusual to  see two creeks of 
> the same name so close together. The listing shows  111% of average 
> currently, not bad, and 14 inches compared to an  average of 12.6. The 
> Calvert Creek Snotel site is listed as being at  6,430 feet elevation, so 
> is probably similar to Calvert Hill.
>
> There's another site at Mule Creek which is on the SE side of the 
> Pioneers, 15 miles or so SE of Crystal Park. This one is at 8,300 feet 
> elevation; and shows 105% of average still on the ground. For Calvert 
> Hill and Crystal Park, it looks like the situation is typical,  although, 
> spring is staying kind of cool, so snow melt is going to  continue to lag.
>
> It took me a little while to find appropriate sites. I wouldn't have 
> thought to look under Headwaters of the Missouri, after all, that's up 
> north. For those geographically lost, the creeks flow into the Big  Hole 
> River, to the Beaverhead to the Jefferson to the Missouri. Thus,  for this 
> area that is on the east side of the C ontinental Divide,  it's all 
> headwaters of the Missouri.
>
> Have a nice trip.
>
> Lanny
>
>
> On May 9, 2008, at 1:07 PM, Julie Siebel wrote:
>
>> I just found this link that lists snowpack for Montana:
>>
>> ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/update/mt.txt
>>
>> I took a guess and figured if you changed "mt.txt" to "id.txt" (for 
>> Idaho) or "wy.txt" (for Wyoming) or whatever snowy state you want to  go 
>> rockhounding in and wonder where the snow is at, it will show the  data 
>> for that state as well. Neat. Works great for Montana, Idaho,  Wyoming 
>> and Oregon - didn't test any further.
>>
>> Now if I can just figure out which of those 60 or so locations is 
>> closest to Calvert Hill and Crystal Park...
>>
>> Julie
>>
>>
>> -- 
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