DOI: 10.6078/d1941t
title: Snowpack, precipitation, and temperature measurements at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory for water years 1971 to 2025

description: The snowpack of the Sierra Nevada Mountains is an indispensable freshwater
 resource for large portions of western North America. The Central Sierra
 Snow Laboratory (CSSL) has had an integral role in the measurement of
 snowfall and snowpack properties within the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and
 has worked to develop a physical understanding of the processes that
 govern snow since 1946. This dataset contains measurements of temperature,
 precipitation quantity, snowfall, and snowpack characteristics, including
 24-hour snowfall, snowpack depth, and snow water equivalent for each water
 year (October 1 to September 30) from 1971 to 2025 at CSSL except for
 Water Year 2020. Measurements were made at the same location at CSSL for
 the entirety of the 53-year measurement period to ensure continuity of
 record with minimal effects from differences in measurement location.
description: Data on snowpack depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) were
 collected using a federal sampler and/or a large snow stake at 9:00
 Pacific Standard Time (PST) each day. New snowfall measurements used a
 snow board and ruler at 8:00 and 16:00 PST on days when snowfall
 occurred and were then totaled for daily new snow quantity.
description: Snowfall amounts &lt; 0.5 cm when measured with the snow
 board and ruler were labelled as "Trace" or "T"
 accumulations. Periods with no measurement and/or missing values are
 recorded as "--". References to "patchy",
 "patches", "small patches", or "large
 patches" are in reference to snow cover on the site. 
 Water Years 1971 through 2019 include SWE measurements from a
 federal sampler on the site. Beginning in Water Year 2021, SWE values that
 are used are obtained from the USDA NRCS SNOTEL site at the
 lab. 
description: # Snowpack, precipitation, and temperature measurements at the Central
 Sierra Snow Laboratory for water years 1971 to 2025 Dataset DOI:
 [10.6078/D1941T](10.6078/D1941T) ## Description of the data and file
 structure Water Years 1971 through 2019 include data on snow depth and SWE
 measurements that were collected using a federal sampler and/or a large
 snow stake at 9:00 Pacific Standard Time (PST) each day. New snowfall
 measurements used a snow board and ruler at 8:00 and 16:00 Pacific
 Standard Time on days when snowfall occurred and were then totaled for
 daily new snow quantity. Beginning in Water Year 2021, SWE values were
 obtained from the USDA NRCS SNOTEL site at the lab at 00:00 local time and
 snow depth measurements were obtained from a snow depth pole permanently
 installed at the site measurement location at 8am PST. New snowfall
 measurements used a snow board and ruler at 8:00 and 16:00 Pacific
 Standard Time on days when snowfall occurred and were then totaled for
 daily new snow quantity. Measurement Notes: Measurements of snowfall were
 rounded to the nearest 0.5 cm and measurements of precipitation were
 rounded to the nearest mm. Snowfall amounts &lt; 0.5 cm when measured with
 the snow board and ruler were labelled as "Trace" or
 "T" accumulations. Periods with no measurement and/or missing
 values are recorded as "--". References to "patchy",
 "patches", "small patches", or "large
 patches" are in reference to snow cover on the site.  ### Change log:
 2025-08-05 1. Expanded dataset by including .csv files for 2021-2024 water
 years. 2. Standardized date format between all files. 3. Previously,
 absent values were reported with either 'NA' or '--'.
 These have all been changed to '--' for continuity.  4. Remarks
 were checked and additional context was added to existing daily remarks
 for clarification. 5. A typo was corrected in Water Year 2006 where a
 value was "209" and was changed to "290". 2025-10-01
 1. Added Water Year 2025 data (WY2025.csv)