That Snowpack!

[bringthepain]

There is no swowpack in PA obv, BUT i do think it helps groundwater recharge that snow melts normally slowly and allows most or all the water to get absorbed into the water table vs running off. After the summer and fall we had rain wise i will take any precipitation any time heading into the spring

 

[troutbert]

About 3 inches here in Centre County.

Does anyone know of a website with good maps showing how much snow fell in different parts of PA?

 

[jifigz]

About 3 inches here in Centre County.

Does anyone know of a website with good maps showing how much snow fell in different parts of PA?

Nope, but southern PA definitely got more. A friend in Cassville (Southern Huntingdon Co) reported a foot at his house.

 

[jifigz]

And we can all agree, having any and all moisture on the ground to melt in and get absorbed is a good thing. Even if it doesn't get absorbed all that much, it is a good thing.

 

[Swattie87]

About 3 inches here in Centre County.

Does anyone know of a website with good maps showing how much snow fell in different parts of PA?

WeatherStreet

First map shows cumulative totals actually currently on the ground. There’s a certain margin of error with that one as it totals multiple events potentially and calculates in melting rates. But I’ve used it to gauge whether there’s snow on the ground in area I plan to fish, and it’s accurate enough in that regard.

Second map on the page is new 24 hour totals, and is more useful for gauging storm totals. Keep in mind it refreshes and shows only a 24 hour interval. So if you have an event that lasts over 24 hours or two back to back snows, it will look as though it’s under-reporting.

 

[Swattie87]

Has anyone done the calculations to determine how much the glaciers in PA add to our groundwater? I would think global warming should actually help keep streams flowing, as the PA glaciers melt. Should also help our mountain lion population evolve..

“This is glacial water (pronounced glass-e-al). Ice cold. Only one or two degrees centigrade.”

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Sometimes I think it would nice if there were snowpack reports in the eastern part of the US, but it’s not as important, particularly to agriculture, as it is in the west. When I was spending my summers in Montana I paid close attention to snowpack throughout the winter and spring, as it was a pretty good indicator of what the water levels and the fishing would be over the course of the summer, and the potential for forest fires as well.

I believe there are something like 1000 of these snowpack reporting sites, or stations, across the western US, and It is fascinating to me how the snowpack is measured and reported.

The stations are maintained by The National Resources and Conversation Services, an 11,000 person agency, which is a part of the US Department of Agriculture. Each SNOwpack TELemetry Network (SNOTEL) station transmits a radio signal into the sky, and this signal bounces off a band of ionized meteorites existing about 50 to 80 miles above the earth. This technique allows communication to take place between remote sites and a master station up to 1200 miles away.

Here is an overall map of these stations, and there are more detailed maps of individual river basins, like the Madison or Yellowstone River available, for example.

NWCC iMap

nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov

 

[nymphingmaniac]

About 3 inches here in Centre County.

Does anyone know of a website with good maps showing how much snow fell in different parts of PA?

yup. We got that in south State college.
I use this for deciding steelhead trips. I bet you could look around and find information

U.S. Weather

Current New York Snow Depth and Snow Accumulation

www.weatherstreet.com

 

[mt_flyfisher]

WeatherStreet

First map shows cumulative totals actually currently on the ground. There’s a certain margin of error with that one as it totals multiple events potentially and calculates in melting rates. But I’ve used it to gauge whether there’s snow on the ground in area I plan to fish, and it’s accurate enough in that regard.

Second map on the page is new 24 hour totals, and is more useful for gauging storm totals. Keep in mind it refreshes and shows only a 24 hour interval. So if you have an event that lasts over 24 hours or two back to back snows, it will look as though it’s under-reporting.

I also use this for rainfall: https://www.raindrop.farm/rainfall-totals/state/pennsylvania

I can zoom in and even get the rainfall total at my house. I don’t have a rain gauge at my house, but I regularly compare that website to what my friend who lives near me gets in his gauge, and the 2 are very close.

 

[Sylvaneous]

You can check out the NOAA snow analysis page to get the 'water equivalent' map. My rule of thumb is 7" of snow= 1 inch of water equivalent. Thing is, the snow melts everywhere slowly, usually, soaking in better. But if 7" of snow = 1 inch of rain, that is just a normal 1 week+ of normal spring/summer precipitation, 3-4 months away from when it is relevant. The current map shows in the range of 1 inch of water equiv. in Happy Valley.

 

[Sylvaneous]

I think its been about 11,000 years since Pennsylvania has seen glaciers.

Closer to maybe 16,000. The North American glacial maximum was 21,000 years ago, and those didn't even get as far east as the Allegheny and a bit south of Slippery Rock (Moraine State Park). So yeah.
What this MIGHT be doing it pushing off the early hatch dates so there aren't any April 1st Hendricksons. While it's GREAT to fish to fish rising to mayflies as soon after winter as possible, the early hatches seem to stretch-out the period and thin the density of bugs. With low water temps and higher, discolored water and a 6 month (or whatever) pause in legitimately good surface bug activity, I want some bug density to get the fish looking up.
Grannoms are different. Too much of a good thing. Nothing un-fun about swinging and tight-lining grannom wets and feeling that hard take, but really, REALLY, don't you want to see risers?

 

[mt_flyfisher]

You can check out the NOAA snow analysis page to get the 'water equivalent' map. My rule of thumb is 7" of snow= 1 inch of water equivalent. Thing is, the snow melts everywhere slowly, usually, soaking in better. But if 7" of snow = 1 inch of rain, that is just a normal 1 week+ of normal spring/summer precipitation, 3-4 months away from when it is relevant. The current map shows in the range of 1 inch of water equiv. in Happy Valley.

 

[wildtrout2]

We are treading on the doorstep of another conversation that we repeatedly have over and over and over and over and over and over....

As we move on to our 33rd post on the subject. 🙂

 

[DaveKile]

Closer to maybe 16,000. The North American glacial maximum was 21,000 years ago, and those didn't even get as far east as the Allegheny and a bit south of Slippery Rock (Moraine State Park). So yeah.
What this MIGHT be doing it pushing off the early hatch dates so there aren't any April 1st Hendricksons. While it's GREAT to fish to fish rising to mayflies as soon after winter as possible, the early hatches seem to stretch-out the period and thin the density of bugs. With low water temps and higher, discolored water and a 6 month (or whatever) pause in legitimately good surface bug activity, I want some bug density to get the fish looking up.
Grannoms are different. Too much of a good thing. Nothing un-fun about swinging and tight-lining grannom wets and feeling that hard take, but really, REALLY, don't you want to see risers?

Kinda of geeky, but I had look. Here is a map of the different ice sheets that advanced into PA. Looks like they only ever came so low as the NW and NE corners of the state. I think there were about four continental glaciers that came into Pennsylvania, forget the details.

 

[jifigz]

Kinda of geeky, but I had look. Here is a map of the different ice sheets that advanced into PA. Looks like they only ever came so low as the NW and NE corners of the state. I think there were about four continental glaciers that came into Pennsylvania, forget the details.


View attachment 1641239645

Dave, that is why those are the only parts of the state that have natural lakes and ponds. When you get south of glaciation, there is no such thing as a natural lake. They are all impoundments.

 

[Kms]

Kinda of geeky, but I had look. Here is a map of the different ice sheets that advanced into PA. Looks like they only ever came so low as the NW and NE corners of the state. I think there were about four continental glaciers that came into Pennsylvania, forget the details.


View attachment 1641239645

False. There were glacial deposits in our old freezer.

 

[troutbert]

Kinda of geeky, but I had look. Here is a map of the different ice sheets that advanced into PA. Looks like they only ever came so low as the NW and NE corners of the state. I think there were about four continental glaciers that came into Pennsylvania, forget the details.


View attachment 1641239645

It's interesting that the map shows glacial deposits in the Bald Eagle Creek valley and pretty far up the West Branch Susquehanna, but no glacial deposits UPSTREAM of those.

I wonder what the explanation is for that.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Many years back, when I took a Geology course at Penn State, not long after the glacial age had ended, I recall that the professor of the course said that the terminal moraine ended just south of Lewistown. That always seemed to make sense as an explanation for all of the rock filled mountain sides in that region.

 

[troutbert]

Many years back, when I took a Geology course at Penn State, not long after the glacial age had ended, I recall that the professor of the course said that the terminal moraine ended just south of Lewistown. That always seemed to make sense as an explanation for all of the rock filled mountain sides in that region.

The map doesn't show that. It shows no glacial deposits in Mifflin County.

The rock filled mountain slopes in the ridge-and-valley area aren't glacial deposits.

This short video explains how those were formed.

 

[afishinado]

Snow on the ground (and melting) does not necessarily equate to water infiltrating into the ground and adding to the water table since the ground is often frozen frozen solid in winter.