This winter's snowpack, station by station
Snowpack Watch tracks daily snow-water equivalent (SWE) — the depth of water locked in the snowpack — at six Idaho SNOTEL stations, against the NRCS 1991–2020 median and every water year since 2001. These are the numbers that decide Idaho's summer water supply.
Stations
Season peak SWE for WY2026 vs. each station's 1991–2020 median peak · data through —
Grey line = 1991–2020 median · gold line = WY2026 · gold dot = latest reading
Seasonal curve
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Peak day & melt-out day
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Compare two stations
Current-year SWE against each station's 1991–2020 median, on a shared scale.
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Snow-depth scrubber
Replay a water year day by day and watch the snow depth build and melt.
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Snow depth—
SWE—
Day of year—
Data & sources
- Snow data: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Water and Climate Center, SNOTEL network. Daily snow-water equivalent, snow depth and 1991–2020 medians via the Air and Water Database REST API, accessed 2026-09-13. Provisional data subject to revision.
- Stations: Moscow Mountain (989:ID:SNTL), Mica Creek (623:ID:SNTL), Lolo Pass (588:ID:SNTL), Brundage Reservoir (370:ID:SNTL), Galena Summit (490:ID:SNTL), Mores Creek Summit (637:ID:SNTL) — water years 2001–2026.
- Median: the NRCS 30-year (1991–2020) daily median SWE, as published by the API. Moscow Mountain's record begins WY2001, so its median is NRCS-published but its method could not be independently confirmed.
- Derived values: peak day (maximum SWE) and melt-out day (the first day after the season's peak on which SWE falls to ≤ 0.5 in, so early-autumn snow never counts) are computed by this app from the daily records, WY2001–WY2026 only — not each station's full period of record. Mica Creek's WY2019 peak season has a 32-day data gap and is shown as incomplete.
- Terms: U.S. federal government data, public domain in the U.S. (17 U.S.C. §105). NRCS disclaimer: data are subject to revision regardless of indicated Quality Assurance level, and neither the NRCS nor the United States Government may be held liable for any damages resulting from its use.