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[pct-l] snow water content



At 08:28 PM 1/10/02, d-low wrote:

>can anyone explain the signifigance of the water content of snow?

The folks who pay for monitoring the snow levels are interested in watering 
crops with the snow melt, so that is how they measure the snow depth, not 
in real depth, but in water content


>what are the effects of a high snow water content in terms of
>coalescence and melting?
>will a high snow water content prevent coalescence or foster it?
>will a high snow water content slow the melting process?

It has nothing to do with any of these that I know of. It varies when the 
snow is new depending on a bunch of stuff

>thanks in advance for your help in understanding this mysterious
>statistic.

The dryer the snow, the deeper it has to be for the same water content. As 
the season progresses, and the snow compacts, it eventually gets to where 
about 1" of water content means about 2" of snow by the time a PCT hiker 
would be hiking on it.

Also the "realtime" reports are done by weighing the snow on top of big 
pillows and the weight of the snow depends on the water content, not on its 
depth...