In the world of snow science, one measure of snowpack, the amount of snow on the ground that tends to stick around for a while, building up layer by layer

One measure of that snowpack is what is called snow water equivalent or S-W-E

S-W-E gauges the amount of water in terms of depth that the snow would turn into if it melted in its entirety, and that's achieved by calculating the snow height in meters

times the vertically integrated density of the snow in terms of kilograms per cubic meter.

So scientists use that formula to compute how much water will be generated as the snowpack melts

and this is important because it gives folks in areas where snow accumulates a sense of how much water to expect at some point in the future.

And this is especially vital in areas with nearby mountain ranges, as snow tends to accumulate more enthusiastically at higher elevations, and because snow melt will then tend to flow down these mountain ranges to pass through or accumulate in lower-lying areas.

In practice, this means that snowpack can serve as a water reservoir, holding onto water that will run into other aquifers and into the ground at some point in the future.

But it also means there's an inherent flood risk for those areas, as too much melt of too

much snow too quickly can lead to flooding.

These are especially important numbers to get right in California right now, as the state

has accumulated one of its largest ever snow packs on record, with a depth of

126 and a half inches, which is more than twice, about 221 percent, the average snowpack

this time of year. Recent record-setting wetness this winter helped ease the region's long-lasting

megadrought, which has been nice for normal citizens and for agricultural

interests in the area, of which there are many. But that niceness could become something else entirely

when this snowpack melts, if it melts too quickly all at once. A trickle of snowmelt is good and

desirable then, but a big snowmelt of snowpack this historically deep and dense would be a bit like turning on a fire hose when all you want is a sip of water.

Too much of a good thing.

And again, California is already more moist than it's been in a while in the wake of 17 atmospheric river, weather corridors,

rushing through the area since December of 2022.

Atmospheric rivers being waves of highly compressed moisture in the atmosphere

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