![]() ![]() This year, late season snowfall across the Central and Northern Rockies contributed to a much above average snow cover extent well into April. The annual snowpack typically reaches its maximum value at the end of March. ![]() The total annual water budget for agriculture and human use in the mountainous West is based upon the amount of snow melt that will occur in spring and is proportional to the amount of snow on the ground. Winter and spring mountain snowpack provide a crucial water source across much of the western United States. was 305,000 square miles (790,000 square km) above the 1981-2010 average and ranked as the fifth largest winter snow cover extent in the 1966-present period of record. The winter (December-February) average snow cover extent for the contiguous U.S. ![]() Across the U.S., each month from December through April had snow cover extents were among the ten largest on record. Snow cover extent, which is measured from NOAA satellites and provided by Rutgers Global Snow Lab, was above average for each winter month, stretching into the spring. Wet conditions were present for the Northern Plains, stretching into the Northeast. Drier-than-normal conditions were widespread across the South, Southeast, and into the Mid-Atlantic. When conditions are averaged for the three-month winter period (December 2010 - February 2011), below-normal temperatures were anchored across the eastern half of the country, with above-normal temperatures for the Southwest. ![]()
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