Melt-Out Progress

The valley-level snowpack melted out to a trace 10 days ago in Fairbanks, but higher elevations near Fairbanks still have a significant depth of snow on the ground, as do many other interior locations.  The photos below were taken at about 6pm AKDT yesterday on Keystone Ridge; the snow depth measurement was 13 inches.

It's a little unusual to have this amount of snow left on the hill 10 days after valley-level melt-out, as the normal difference in melt-out dates is 11 days.  In the 18-year history of the station, only 3 years saw more snow surviving 10 days after valley melt-out.  This year's anomaly appears to be related to the warm - but not excessively warm - chinook pattern, which efficiently removed the valley-level snowpack but has not become warm enough to cause rapid melting at elevation.  Through yesterday, April 2015 is the 11th warmest April since 1930 in Fairbanks.

The list below shows the most recent snow depth measurements from various first-order and SNOTEL sites across interior and western Alaska.  If a date is included in parentheses, it indicates the 1981-2010 median melt-out date. 

Fort Yukon SNOTEL  0" as of today
Coldfoot SNOTEL  17" (May 15)
Atigun Pass SNOTEL  41"
Bettles SNOTEL  16" (May 16)
Bettles airport  10" (May 12)
Kotzebue  3"  (May 20)
Nome  4"  (May 12)
McGrath  0" (melt-out April 11, median May 4)
Eagle COOP  10" 0" (observer error reported 10" in recent days) (May 1)
Chicken COOP  4" (1997-2014 median May 1)
Granite Creek SNOTEL near Delta Junction  6" (April 27)

Other SNOTEL sites:
Little Chena Ridge 2000'  8"  (May 7)
Upper Nome Creek 2520'  23"
Upper Chena 2850'  34"
Munson Ridge 3100'  31"  (May 26)
Eagle Summit 3650'  18"