Photo on the left: Last week, the snowpack at the Raven's Ridge snow survey site at 1,650 ft elevation measured zero inches. One of only two years on record without snowpack in January. This photo from last week at the Raven's Roost Cabin shows frost on the ground but no accumulated snow. Photo on the right: A view from the same location, the same week, one year earlier. The long-term average snowpack in January at the Raven's Ridge snow survey location is around 36 inches.
Petersburg started the year nearly snowless, even at high elevations - and that's rare, according to long-term data records.
Snowpack data is collected at hundreds of sites in Alaska every winter month for the National Resource Conservation Service's snow survey program, which monitors snow depth and water content measurements to use for environmental forecasting and water management.
There are several snow survey stations in Southeast Alaska - including two on Petersburg's Mitkof Island, which the U.S. Forest Service Petersburg Ranger District has monitored for nearly half a century.
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