Where's The Water ?

NRCS BUILDS ".kmz" DATA FILES

See Daily SNOTEL Data For Your Waters
(click image to enlarge)

RE-POST --> from DECEMBER 18, 2007
(more timely now than ever)

.. Should you ever want to know how your snowpack is doing you can get it done with a new visual mapping tool developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS.)
.. There are two ways to display this information on your computer. 1] if you're a computer mapping junkie, you can download the ".kmz" file and display it on your computer's copy of Google Earth, or --> 2] you can go to the NCRS site and view the daily image.
.. The data base includes all NCRS SNOTEL sites for North America, and can be viewed either with, or without labels for the sites.
.. There's nothing that we can do about the results of the weather, but now we can see and talk about it in real time.
.. The data files are updated daily around 7:30 am and 12:30 afternoon Pacific Time with midnight summaries of the previous day’s data. The symbols are color-coded by the current snow water equivalent as percent of the 1971-2000 normal on this date.
.. The ".kmz" file is recognized on your copy of Google Earth as "places." If you click on the site of interest you will get a photo of the site and a summary table for the data collected at that site. There are additional real-time reports included in the information on the photo page.
.. There is also a Google based "Water Supply Forecast" data base created by the NCRS. This is displayed in the same way as the SNOTEL data and can be viewed both ways as well. The forecasts are based on the snowpack, and are available for drainage basins.

---------------

.. Another pair of Google ".kmz" files has been prepared by NOAA. These are 3-D overlays of the snowpack analysis and snow reports. These are based on the latest, (usually daily,) NASA and NOHRSC imagery.
.. Here are the links to get you started, (P.S. you can build your own ".kmz" file.)
Google Earth SNOTEL Data Layer
Google Earth Water Supply Forecast Layer
National Snow Analyses 3D Interface

---------------