HAPPY JACK, AZ — After all the winter storms this month, Salt River Project (SRP) meteorologist Bo Svoma went to one of the more than ten SRP weather observation sites on the Salt and Verde watersheds, known as SNOTELS, to measure the snow.
It’s part of a bi-monthly trek to the high country to gather key data, determining how the snow may benefit the state’s water supply.
“We want to understand how much water is up here on the watershed ready to flow downhill toward the reservoirs,” Svoma said.
The instrument he used, called a federal sampler, is a metal tube that is dropped into the snowpack, measuring the snow’s depth and snow water equivalent, or the amount of water that could cover the ground if all the snow melted.
The average snow depth was more than 30 inches and the snow water equivalent was nearly eight inches, which Svoma said was well above normal and quite a contrast compared to early winter when conditions were dry.
If there is too much snowmelt, Svoma stated that SRP could spill from the reservoir system and make flood releases, but it’s too soon to determine if that will happen.
Even if it does, SRP said water conservation is still the name of the game since drought could affect other parts of the water portfolio.
"We have multiple water supplies in the Phoenix Metropolitan area,” he said. “Just because one source is doing well another source might not.”
