MSGID: 1:317/3 6431abc4   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   April 8, 2023 - Snow Western United States   
      
      Snow   
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      After a series of at least a dozen atmospheric rivers lashed the   
      Western United States between November 2022 and March 2023, mountain   
      snowpack reached record or near-record levels.   
      
      On April 5, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer   
      (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image   
      centered on the state of Wyoming. In this type of image, snow appears   
      bright blue, grass is green, open land looks brown, and clouds may   
      appear either white or, if the clouds are high and very cold, may be   
      tinted with bright blue.   
      
      A blanket of heavy snow covers almost all of the high mountains in this   
      image, with the exception of an area in northern Idaho, where   
      vegetation predominates. Snow also stretches over part of the Midwest,   
      including South Dakota and North Dakota, and extends northward into   
      Canada. The deep blue waters of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, illustrate   
      the effect of this winter’s exuberant precipitation, even in the lower   
      elevations. In November 2022, the Great Salt Lake hit a new record low,   
      with the water level measured at 4,188.5 feet. By April 6, the level   
      had risen to 4,191.5 feet—a full 3-foot rise—even before the onset of   
      spring runoff.   
      
      Early April is the typical peak of snow water equivalent (SWE) in the   
      West. Because SWE estimates the amount of water held in the winter   
      snowpack, the SWE measured on April 1 is used as one of the initial   
      indicators of potential spring and summer water supply. According to   
      the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), California,   
      Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado all registered record-high SWE. In   
      northwestern Utah, the SWE is 300 percent above the 1991-2020 median.   
      In parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada along the border of California   
      and Utah, SWE peaked at 303 percent of median. In addition, along the   
      northwestern border of Arizona and southeast Nevada, SWE was estimated   
      at 408 percent, while central Arizona reached a full 600 percent of   
      median.   
      
      The high snowpack is welcome to drought-plagued portions of the West,   
      but the robust snowpack may trigger spring and summer floods,   
      especially if runoff is rapid. The NIDIS notes that serious drought   
      concerns remain in the parts of the Pacific Northwest, in part due to   
      lack of snow. They also expect Lake Powell to rise significantly by   
      summer, but Lake Mead may continue to fall. Both of those reservoirs   
      will remain at critically low levels, despite the anticipated runoff,   
      due to more than 20 years of drought.   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Terra   
      Date Acquired: 4/6/2023   
      Resolutions:  1km (800.6 KB),  500m (2.7 MB),  250m ( B)   
      Bands Used: 7,2,1   
      Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC   
      
      
      
   https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-04-08   
       
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