Along most of the Interstate 90 corridor Mineral County residents have had bare backyards for much of the first month of winter.

With early and impressive snowstorms in October and November, December remained mostly dry and unable to produce a real white Christmas. Now heading into mid-season everyone’s focus turns to snowpack and already Western Montanans are thinking ahead to summer and upcoming forest fires.

“Firefighters and other land managers are always gaming out how the spring and summer will play out starting the previous fall and all winter long. In the fall, we pay attention to how wet or dry our dead fuels are going into the winter months. In the winter, we are paying attention to snow levels and snowpack. As we transition into spring, we are looking for information on the rate of snowmelt,” said Jim Ward, District Fire Management Officer for the Lolo National Forest Superior Ranger District.

With little snow down in the valleys this time of year, it can be hard to gauge how well the snow is measuring up at higher elevations.

“It can be challenging to make sense of discussions about snowpack and precipitation," Ward said. "From year to year, the elevation that we develop a longer lasting snowpack at varies. When we are considering snowpack, we watch through informal observation how it builds up and then retreats.”

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service of Montana features a Snow Survey Program. This program provides mountain snowpack and precipitation data via manual snowpack measurements (Snowcourses) and the SNOwpack TELemetry (SNOTEL) network to forecast snowmelt-driven runoff during spring and summer.

On the departments website (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/mt/snow) individuals can check the current conditions map for data and information about local and state snow reports. One of the map features is the Snow Water Equivalent display. Ward noted, “Snow water equivalent (SWE), in general, is a way to understand how much water is in a specific storm’s snowfall and in the overall snowpack. So, if the SWE is high that represents more moisture in a defined volume of snow (wet heavy snow) and if the SWE is low you get the light and dry powder snow.” The SWE is further used to develop possible outlooks for drought and water runoffs.

“We pay close attention to drought conditions because as they start to develop, we can anticipate that live vegetation will become stressed. If drought conditions develop, we pay attention to the intensity. The more intense drought will stress live vegetation to the point where it becomes readily available to burn. This in turn increase fire behavior making suppression efforts more challenging,” described Ward.

Ward also mentioned that the daily SWE for an area can change quickly. On January 12th, the “Lower Cark Fork Basin” which encompasses Mineral County showed 88 percent of normal. By January 14th it showed 94 percent due to the snow storm from last Wednesday. Ward stated, “In general, since the Lower Cark Fork Basin is showing below 100 percent we are somewhat behind.”

Snowpack is a word used frequently by Mineral County residents, because it affects so many facets of life, whether you’re a rancher, fishermen, firefighter, snowmobiler, skier, or conservationist, snowpack levels matter.

“Snowpack amounts and levels are important to us all. On good years with ample snowpack and average melt-off, we receive dependable water flow in most of our primary streams," Ward said. "This is good for the riparian vegetation, the fisheries, and provides more locations for drafting water for fires. These good years minimize the amount of area at threat from new fire starts and can dampen a fire’s ability to grow rapidly. Conversely, a poor snowpack and limited snowpack at lower to mid elevations usually creates a potentially longer and more threatening fire season.”

Snowpack and snow levels are also major factors in determining the ranger districts prescribed fire program. Ward said, “We look to utilize natural barriers when it is safe to do so as a barrier to prescribed fire spread. Our spring prescribed fire efforts are benefitted with a good snowpack that extends into the lower and mid elevations.”

To understand what snowpack is, it’s basically how long a particular area may be under snow as a region heads into early fire season.

"For example, if we have a deep snowpack it may last into the late spring and early summer above certain elevations and on particular aspects," Ward said. "If the melt-off is on average, these areas will be of little concern if we have a lightning event and we can focus on the lower elevations and drier aspects.”

In Mineral County two major mountain basins are monitored for snow levels with SNOTEL equipment. One is Hoodoo Basin which is part of the Trout Creek drainage about 17 miles southwest of Superior. The other observation and reporting area is near Lookout Pass in the St. Regis Basin.