JACKSON, Wyo. — As of Tuesday, April 9, Teton Conservation District (TCD) reported that the Town of Jackson’s Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), as well as Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir levels, are even more full than last spring’s record or near record snow depths.
According to TCD, the Jackson Climate Station has collected snow depth records going back to 1905, but a more consistent dataset exists from 1970 onwards. After a slow start to the winter, the snow depth in town exceeds last year’s levels.
“While we have lost quite a bit of low elevation snow over the past several weeks, there actually was more snow on the ground in town in early March than last year,” TCD wrote in its early spring watershed update.
TCD also reported that the Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir levels are much more full than they were last winter, due to abundant streamflows and precipitation during the previous irrigation season. Jackson Lake increased from 66% to 75% and Palisades increased from 57% to 92% since October. Palisades has even begun to spill more water for flood protection purposes over the last couple of weeks. Jackson Lake sits at just over 600,000 acre-feet of water currently, while Palisades has around 1,100,000 acre-feet of water. The Bureau of Reclamation’s “Teacup Diagram” for the Snake River basin can be found here.
On March 4, Teton Conservation District (TCD) announced that the SWE reached 100% of average for the Snake River Headwaters watershed basin.
“April tends to bring our maximum value of SWE in the basin, and shifting shortly after to a consistent melt,” TCD wrote in the report. “On average, the Snake River Headwaters Basin arrives at peak snowpack on April 11.”
Find more information on SWE and other snowpack metrics here.
