RENO, NV -- Experts are thrilled with measurement results from the Mt. Rose snow tell site today. Hydrologist Dan Greenlee is recording 90 inches of snow at the site, or about 27 inches of water content, which he says is a positive sign for our area’s future.

“For this particular site we’re almost double what we would be on an average year for up here on the first of the year, so it’s pretty fantastic stuff, this is a great start to the water year right now,” Greenlee said.  

The snowpack provides the water supply for Northern Nevada residents.  And as part of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Greenlee is keeping an eye on our future water supply.

“We collect the data primarily to forecast how much water we’re going to have on the runoff this spring, beginning April 1st or May 1st and running through the middle of the summer,” Greenlee said. “And too see how much water we’re going to get, giving how much snow we’re sitting on right now.”

Chief Deputy Water Master David Wathen says with the snowpack being our biggest reservoir, the more snow, the better, especially for the summertime. 

“We’re at about 190 percent snowpack at this site, which is great news considering where we were coming into the season,” Wathen said. “Last year was extremely dry so our carry over storage in our reservoirs was pretty low and we ended a good start. We need a good winter to get us out of this deficient.”

Wathen also hopes, along with Greenlee that we get a lot more snow in the next few months. Four more of these manual measurements will be taken during the rest of the year here to double-check the automatic system of sensors in the area.