SNOTEL

    Country USA
    Stations 509
    Organisation U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
    Contacts Cara McCarthy
    Website http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/
    Official References

    Leavesley et al (2010), ‘A modelling framework for improved agricultural water-supply forecasting’;

    Leavesley, G., David, O., Garen, D., Lea, J., Marron, J., Pagano, T., Perkins, T. & Strobel, M. (2008), ‘A modeling framework for improved agricultural water supply forecasting’, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts;

    Abstract
    The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) installs, operates, and maintains an extensive, automated system to collect snowpack and related climatic data in the Western United States called SNOTEL (for SNOwpack TELemetry). The system evolved from NRCS"s Congressional mandate in the mid-1930"s "to measure snowpack in the mountains of the West and forecast the water supply." The programs began with manual measurements of snow courses; since 1980, SNOTEL has reliably and efficiently collected the data needed to produce water supply forecasts and to support the resource management activities of NRCS and others.
    Variables measured air temperature
    snow depth
    snow water equivalent
    soil moisture
    soil temperature
    Depths of soil moisture measurements 0.00 - 0.00 m
    0.05 - 0.05 m
    0.10 - 0.10 m
    0.20 - 0.20 m
    0.30 - 0.30 m
    0.35 - 0.35 m
    0.40 - 0.40 m
    0.45 - 0.45 m
    0.50 - 0.50 m
    0.60 - 0.60 m
    0.68 - 0.68 m
    0.81 - 0.81 m
    0.99 - 0.99 m
    1.01 - 1.01 m
    2.03 - 2.03 m
    Soil Moisture sensors used n.s.
    Hydraprobe Sdi-12
    Hydraprobe Analog
    Data availability from 1996-09-10 to 2025-06-12

    back to network overview