Picture above:  the beginning of the winter snow pack at Copper Lake

Snowpack and Ground Cover

In the two tables below, the one on the left shows the first date there was ground cover of snow after which the ground stayed continuously covered until the second date shown- first day of bare ground. Then there is the numbers of days of ground cover.  This is the time period, at the measuring site, where the bare ground was not exposed.

The table on the right shows the first date, after the winter snowpack starts to melt down, in which the snowpack dropped to under those two amounts- 100 cm (39½") and 50 cm (19½").

These numbers are for the weather station location so south facing slopes will start to hold snow a bit later and certainly lose it substantially earlier, while north facing slopes would be quite the opposite.  This information is important to show when plants would start to grow and animals have access to food or shelter, among other things (and when i can walk again!!)

Consecutive days Ground Covered by Snow

First Date Depth to drop Under:
 beginningFirst daytotal days   first date down tofirst date down to
winter snowpackbare groundground covered||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||year 100cm on ground50cm on ground
1975-76 7-Nov15-May190 1976 26-Apr9-May
1976-77 13-Nov26-Apr164 1977 never reached8-Apr
1977-78 18-Nov4-Jun198 1978 16-May25-May
1978-79 11-Nov1-Jun202 1979 17-May24-May
1979-80 7-Nov7-Jun213 1980 23-May30-May
1980-81 15-Oct29-Apr196 1981 5-Apr19-Apr
1981-82 24-Oct31-May219 1982 7-May22-May
1982-83 26-Oct9-Jun226 1983 24-May1-Jun
1983-84 8-Nov4-Jun209 1984 22-May28-May
1984-85 17-Oct25-May220 1985 3-May17-May
1985-86 5-Nov29-May205 1986 12-May23-May
1986-87 31-Oct12-May193 1987 25-Apr7-May
1987-88 6-Nov15-May191 1988 11-Apr5-May
1988-89 8-Nov12-May185 1989 18-Apr5-May
1989-90 24-Nov18-May175 1990 15-Mar6-May
1990-91 2-Nov22-May201 1991 8-May18-May
1991-92 24-Oct3-May192 1992 9-Apr27-Apr
1992-93 28-Oct5-Jun220 1993 20-May30-May
1993-94 12-Nov20-May189 1994 24-Apr15-May
1994-95 30-Oct19-Jun232 1995 6-Jun13-Jun
1995-96 1-Nov20-May201 1996 8-May15-May
1996-97 20-Oct1-Jun224 1997 13-May21-May
1997-98 23-Oct20-May209 1998 2-May13-May
1998-99 25-Oct25-May212 1999 18-Apr20-May
1999-00 20-Nov7-May169 2000 12-Apr1-May
2000-01 31-Oct14-May195 2001 4-Apr7-May
2001-02 18-Nov25-Apr158 2002 30-Mar10-Apr
2002-03 22-Oct22-May212 2003 27-Apr16-May
2003-04 2-Nov8-May188 2004 24-Mar2-May
2004-05 29-Oct26-May209 2005 5-May20-May
2005-06 29-Oct12-May195 2006 23-Apr3-May
2006-07 17-Oct1-May196 2007 26-Mar23-Apr
2007-08 21-Nov1-Jun193 2008 16-May26-May
2008-09 4-Nov11-May188 2009 25-Apr6-May
2009-10 13-Nov12-May180 2010 16-Apr27-Apr
2010-11 24-Oct7-Jun226 2011 26-May1-Jun
2011-12 25-Oct23-Apr181 2012 14-Mar1-Apr
2012-13 10-Nov15-May186 2013 29-Mar30-Apr
2013-14 29-Oct26-May209 2014 2-May18-May
2014-15 2-Nov7-May186 2015 19-May12-Apr
2015-16 4-Nov18-May196 2016 13-Mar4-May
2016-17 17-Nov24-May188 2017 18-Apr11-May
2017-18 18-Nov5-May168 2018 26-Mar24-Apr
2018-19 3-Nov6-Jun215 2019 12-May31-May
2019-20 20-Nov8-May170 2020 18-Apr1-May
2020-21 8-Nov7-May180 2021 3-Apr25-Apr
2021-22 20-Nov12-May173 2022 20-Apr6-May
2022-23 23-Oct       
          
average   196.3    


html hit counter