A year of Arizona's wet weather made a big dent in drought conditions – but how much?
During a snowpack survey on the Verde River Watershed this February, the Salt River Project (SRP) was thrilled at what it found. "Woo, that’s deep!" Four feet deep, to be exact. SRP sends crews to monitor winter snowpack a few times each year – driving or flying – to spots like Happy Jack. "Get on the snow shoes and go out to the designated areas and stick the federal sampler in the snow, take it out and weigh it, and we can get an idea of how much water equivalent to snowpack it is," said Bo Svoma, Salt River Project Meteorologist. Or, how much water is in the snow, if it was all melted. This season, you might've guessed, brought in huge numbers. "Usually you come out here in late February and these sites will have like six inches of snow water equivalent," Svoma said. "Today we measured 13.3" of snow water equivalent, which is really impressive." This year’s snowpack is the largest in three decades. As it melts, the water runs into small creeks and streams, like Clear Creek. From there, it heads down stream to Horseshoe Reservoir, one of seven reservoirs in the SRP Salt and Verde system, which store much of the Valley's water supply. The system is already at 100%. A big change from only a year ago. Horseshoe was below 10% full in April 2022. It's now over 80% capacity. As a whole, the Verde basin has seen over 400% of average snowpack. The Salt Basin has seen over 200% of average. READ MORE: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/yea... #fox10phoenix #arizona #water #drought #waterstorage #az #phoenix #snow #snowpack #azwx Subscribe to FOX 10 Phoenix! https://bit.ly/39zQtv5 Watch FOX 10 Phoenix live: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/live FOX 10 Phoenix delivers breaking news, live events, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from Phoenix, Arizona and across the nation. Watch more FOX 10 Phoenix on YouTube: Arizona Headlines: • Arizona headlines (Archive 2) Arizona Weather: • Arizona weather Arizona Wildfires: • Arizona wildfires Only on FOX Special Reports: • Only on FOX Special Reports Download FOX 10 Phoenix News and Weather App: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/apps Follow FOX 10 Phoenix on Facebook: / fox10phoenix Follow FOX 10 Phoenix on Twitter: / fox10phoenix Follow FOX 10 Phoenix on Instagram: / fox10phoenix Subscribe to FOX 10 Phoenix's newsletters: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/email
