End of Season Snow Density in Moscow, Idaho

Snow became the normal landscape this winter in Moscow, Idaho. We had a lot of snow last year, but last year was rather novel. This year was nearly a repeat of last year, but somehow a lot of snow for the second year in a row just didn't have the novelty. In fact, last year, I kind of wanted the snow to stick around, for the novelty, or to break some kind of record. And it did. We had snow on the ground in places through April. Farmers around town had to cultivate around remaining drifts, into May. Maybe this is premature, but the snow is finally leaving. I won't pretend it's for final, as it is likely some more will fall, but now a good fraction of the ground is actually not covered with snow. There are some tennis courts free of snow (and players are climbing fences to play on them), and most all the roads are clear. Parking lots are clear except for the ends of the lots where the snow was plowed to all winter long. So, before it's perhaps too late, I decided to take one last set of snow depth, `load', and density measurements.

Here are the measurements (3 PM, 2/25/2009):

Snow depth (ave.) = 2.5 in. = 0.21 ft.

Snow weight ... 1.8 lb.

Area of measurement ... 10 in. x 11 in. = 110 sq. in. = 0.76 sq. ft.

Snow load = 1.8 lb / 0.76 sq. ft. = 2.4 psf.

Snow volume = 0.76 sq. ft. x 0.21 ft = 0.16 cu. ft.

Snow density (Specific Weight) = 1.8 lb / 0.16 cu. ft. = 11.25 pcf.

Specific Gravity = 11.25 pcf / 62.4 pcf for water = 0.18.

Standing water equivalent = 2.4 psf / 62.4 pcf = 0.038 ft = 0.5 in.

Obviously, the depth is rather arbitrary, as the amount of ground with no snow (depth, at all) is increasing by the minute. And some ground has more (than what was measured), where it was perhaps piled by snow-shoveling efforts during the year, or slid off roofs, or was left by a plow, or whatever. Discounting snow that was obviously trampled, or driven on, or otherwise `abused', the snow on the ground, independent of depth, appears to have about the same consistency. And, though I only took one measurement, I'll bet the snow density (from place to place) fits this `consistency'.

The measured snow density is interesting. In an earlier article Snow Densities So Far This Season, we see that the current end-of-season density is by no mean the greatest. What is even more interesting in this regard is that the measurement was taken in the rain (soaked snow). Whereas with fresh snow rain made the snow denser, with this older snow the rain just seems to be `passing on through' (like a `Slushy').

I am hoping this is the end of snow for the season. If winter returns, I will go out and measure it. (Or is winter a him, or a her?) I take some cheer that, under the 2 inches of snow taken away for my measurement, there was already a green plant that had managed to grow several inches long and spread its first leaf of the season.

References

Snow Densities So Far This Season, Jeff Filler, Associated Content.