Niwot Ridge LTER Snow Report for Dec 2006
Niwot Ridge LTER Snow Report for December 29th, 2006 Greetings!

December’s precipitation has been similar to this October and November at Niwot Ridge; long dry periods and a couple of upslope storms. The first half of December was mostly dry, and the second half brought most of the precipitation for the month in 2 large upslope storms. The ENSO Diagnostic Discussion issued by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center/NCEP indicates the El Nino condition peaking between December 2006 and February 2007. Hopefully this will continue to bring upslope storms to Niwot.

Hand measurements made on December 29th, 2006 show 9.25 inches of snow water equivalent (SWE) for 166% of the average hand measurements, and a snow depth of 46.8 inches. SNOTEL is reporting 8.6 inches of SWE for 169% of average.

The South Platte River Basin is at 134% of average SWE, and 134% of average precipitation. State wide the South Platte River Basin has the highest percent of average SWE; the San Miguel, Dolores, and San Juan River Basins have the lowest percent of average SWE (134%, 81% respectively). The South Platte River Basin also has the highest percent of average precipitation, while the Yampa and White River Basins have the lowest percent of average precipitation (134%, 95%).

Across the West, Washington, and Colorado are the only states with average or above SWE (141%, 100%), and above average cumulative precipitation (136%, 117%). The California Great Basin sites and Arizona have the lowest percent of average SWE (53%, 54%). Arizona has the lowest percent of cumulative precipitation followed by the California Great Basin sites (51%, 66%). The Snowpack Index (SI) is greater than one in Washington, Arizona, and the Arkansas River Basin and less than one through out the rest of the Western US.

Cheers Kurt

Sno Tel Data  Niwot Ridge, C-1
Snow Water Content (inches)
Values are for the end of given month
except as noted for May and June

Season	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May		Jun	
81/82	4.75	10.5	11.75	15.5	14.9	12	(17th)		
82/83	3.63		4.75	12.75	17	11.75	(30th)		
83/84	12.6	13.25	15	18.9	20.75				
84/85	3.75	6.25	8.5	10.25	8.75				
85/86	6.5	7.5	14	15.38	17.5				
86/87	6.25	8.75	11.25	12.75	11.75				
87/88	6.5	9.1	12.4	15.75	14.5				
88/89	5.5	7.6	11	10.25	5.6				
89/90	6.5	9.25	10.75	16.1	16.5				
90/91	3	5	7.1	9.38	10				
91/92	6.65	6.75	8.5	12.25	10.25				
92/93	5.75	6.75	10.75	14	15.875				
93/94	7.125	9.063	12.25	13.25	13.25	2.5	(18th)		
94/95	2.625	3.925	7	10.125	16.75	17	(22nd)	12.375(13th)	19.75(30th)
95/96	7.5	12	17.5	20.375	18.75	6.125	(15th)		
96/97	8.75	12.625	15.125	14.625	20.375	18	(15th)
97/98	7.0625	10	10.125	12.875	17.25	12.875	(15th)
98/99	3.25	6.625	8.375	9.125	14.125	14.25	(15th)
99/2000	3.5	7.5	10.625	12.375	7.625		
00/2001	4.375	5.375	7.125	10	9.125		
01/2002	2.625	4.25	6.19	7.563	0		
02/2003	4	5.25	8.5	16.75	14.375	11.44	(15th)
03/2004	2.75	4.813	7.75	7.875	10.125	3.69	(14th)
04/2005	4.875	7.7	9.5	11.625	12.875	12.25	(15th)
05/2006	5.625	8.375	9.5	13.25	6.75	0.875	(15th)
06/2007	9.25						

Average	5.57	7.84	10.21	12.92	12.99