The Natural Resources and Conservation Service maintains the SNOTEL data network in mountainous areas of the western United States. Their website gives you direct access to maps showing the location of hundreds of SNOTEL stations. The maps are interactive and by clicking on the station you will have access to a variety of data collected at that station. In addition, for many stations you can make obtain raw data and create graphs for snow water equivalent, snow depth, precipitation, temperature and other climatic elements in hourly, daily, monthly and yearly increments.

Additional information and a photo of the monitoring equipment are included for each station. This information includes: station name, state, latitude, longitude, elevation, sensor history and sensor label descriptions. A photo of the Marlette Lake, Nevada station is shown below.

At the website you can create graphs of sensor information for the current water year or past water years. A graph for the Marlette Lake SNOTEL station is shown below. It graphs cumulative precipitation (red line) and daily snow water equivalent (blue line) for the 2003 water year. In addition this graph shows the average snow water equivalent for water years 1971 through 2000 (purple line) and the average cumulative precipitation for water years 1971 through 2000 (orange line). These graphs can quickly be used to compare current conditions to long term averages.

Your task in this assignment is to visit the Natural Resources Conservation Service Website and explore the SNOTEL data available. You will then select one of the SNOTEL stations for a report. Your report should be a neatly word-processed document that includes all the following information for the monitoring station that you have selected:

• the name of the SNOTEL station

• the location of the SNOTEL station (state, latitude, longitude, elevation)

• a summary of the current (last seven days) snow, precipitation and temperature conditions at this station

• a statement of how the most recent full-year precipitation and snow water equivalent records compare with the long-term averages for that station.

• a summary, in your own words, of why SNOTEL monitoring stations are a valuable source of water supply information

Be sure to give a clear explanation of the items above and proofread your report for content and clarity.

Images used on this page are from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Website.