Southeast falls below-average in snowpack survey

Findings from the Alaska Snow Survey Report released February 2015 show that

snowpack across the state of Alaska is below normal, and snowpack in Southeast is less than half the normal rate.

The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) releases the report quarterly. Locally, data is collected by U.S. Forest Service hydrologist Heath Whitacre who surveys two sites on Mitkof Island: a 1650-foot high site on Raven's Ridge and a 550-foot high site near the

old water reservoir. Whitacre's monthly tally is sent to the NRCS where it is combined with data from sites around Alaska to assess seasonal

snowpack trends for the state.

Below normal levels of snowpack this year are the norm across the state, save for two areas the Arctic and a swath of mainland Alaska

near Delta Junction which have normal levels of recorded snowpack.

In Southeast snowpack was described in the report as

"meager, with most snow courses reading less than a quarter normal." For the Petersburg-Wrangell area in particular there has been "very

little snow" this season, which is attributable to higher than-normal temperatures.

"Temperature, rather than amounts of precipitation,

was the controlling factor for

snowpack so far this winter," according to the report.

"Much precipitation came as rain across the state instead

of snow and what little snow

accumulated early in the season has diminished."

In fact, warmer days in January combined with wet conditions to produce the

rainiest January on record in Petersburg.

Snowpack is one of

several factors affecting water levels in streams and thus salmon runs. However, summer precipitation and temperature also have a bearing on

those levels and potential impacts.

Though the recent five-year trend of snowpack in Southeast has been mostly downward, Daniel Fisher, an NRCS hydrologist based out of Palmer, said decades of data have revealed a lot of variability year to year.

"There's just a lot of seasonal variability," he said. "Last year was fairly low, but that was followed by two years that were record highs."

Fisher said data from the survey gets used for a host of purposes including flood

forecasting, wildlife

management and recreation. However, the program was

created for a different purpose.

"The snow survey

program is actually mandated by congress to collect

snowpack data in the west

and Alaska mainly for water supply forecasting," he

said.