New snow in the high country

Along with other activities at my workplace, I also participate in snow surveys. This means that during the last five days of January, February, March, and April, I and several other federal employees fan out across different parts of the mountains surrounding the San Luis Valley to measure snow depth and water content. These surveys take place at specific locations, which--for Colorado--may be viewed at the link below: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Colorado/colorado.html.

Yesterday was my first day on snow survey for 2009, and two of us traveled by snowmobile up to the Big Meadows manual snow course site, and the Grayback SNOTEL site http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=1058&state=co. Both of these sites are in the eastern San Juan Mountains. At the Grayback site we took measurements of snow depth and water density both at the automated SNOTEL site and at the manual Snow Course located nearby. At the Grayback SNOTEL site, there are currently 49.6" of snow, with a Snow Water Equivalent of 15.4".

The difference between a SNOTEL site and a manual snow course is that at the latter, the snow depth and water content measurements are recorded manually by trained observers, and at the SNOTEL sites, the snow & water information is measured and transmitted automatically. SNOTEL is an acronym which stands for SNOwpack TELemetry.

There are manual snow courses and SNOTEL sites scattered throughout all Western states, and measurements are taken by an assortment of Federal, State, and other employees. The data resulting from all snow surveys, whether manual or automated, are used for water forecasting for agriculture, recreation, flood control, and more.

Icy sheen on all snow surfaces

It feels like an abnormal January weather-wise here, but I just looked back at my temperature records for the past four years (January '06 through January so far) and it's not that abnormal. I'm aware that a scant three or four years of records means little, but it's still fun comparing year to year. No averages calculated yet - that'll be next.
In January '06 we had mostly 30s and 40s as our daytime temps, and single digits below zero all the way up to 34 degrees for nighttime temperatures.
In January '07 my outdoor wireless thermometer bottomed out once (-21.9, can't believe it bottoms out at that temperature!) and only five nights were above zero. Daytime temperatures ranged from 11 degrees to above 40.
In January '08 temperatures were very similar to last year, with the thermometer bottoming out twice, and daytime temperatures were in exactly the same range as '07.
This year is wienie compared to the past two Januarys. Thermometer has not come close to bottoming out - the lowest has been -11.1. Our daytime temps have not gone below 20. Personally I'd rather have blistering cold than what we have, though this year is still better than having bare ground showing. Still too cold to ride the bike to work, though.
And as today's blog title says - the thawing and re-freezing we've had nearly daily has made all snow-covered surfaces look as shiny as a bald pate.

Too warm for January?

Though we still have 9.5" of snow in the front yard here in Monte Vista, 39 degrees still feels too warm for January in the San Luis Valley.
Last week we were staying in a yurt outside of Leadville, CO at 12,000 feet, and the temperature did not sink below 20 degrees the entire three days & nights. That is bizarre.
Large puddles are appearing in late afternoon as snow continues to melt and attempts to sink into the frozen ground. Some perennial plants are now showing as the snow depth decreases. The gardening fever is starting to show up more often in my thoughts. Marianna, it is WAY TOO EARLY to think about starting seeds indoors.

Snow, "blazing" sun and blue skies

Snow in the amount of 4.4 inches fell last evening. This morning it was -11 F and extremely bright once the sun rose. All our bird feeders are busy. It was about time some new snow fell so all the old & dirty stuff could be covered up. There'll be a good supply of water infiltrating the soil & roots of all my planties. As of two days ago, when we had only 8" of snow on the ground, the snow water equivalent (SWE) was 1.46", and the SWE of the 4.4" of snow we got overnight is .3".

The shrubs in the photo foreground are Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa), a wonderful drought-tolerant plant that does great here in the San Luis Valley. I plopped them in the ground probably my first summer here ('05), watered them somewhat consistently the first year, and now I very seldom do anything to or with them. Yet they grow well, and put on beautiful flowers which turn into plume-like seed heads that are sort of pinkish in color. I highly recommend this shrub for xeriscape areas. I bought one more this past summer that's only about 6" high, so it has a lot of growing to do to catch up with the others.

I was over at the nearby Empire Canal last night, and saw a great blue heron standing on the ice, poised over a hole in the ice--I guess it was waiting to spear something for its dinner. I always marvel when I see herons this time of year in the midst of the frozen, white landscape.