Each winter, the United States Department of Agriculture tracks snowpacks across the country to better understand meteorological trends as well as how to allocate water over the course of the following year.
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The Department completes this monumental endeavor via SNOTEL sites and on-the-ground snow reporting. SNOTEL , which stands for Snow Telemetry, is a way of measuring seasonal snowfall. These sites utilize pressure-sensitive snow pillows to weigh precipitation totals in various areas across the West, including Idaho.
As we go into 2025, the snowpacks across the State of Idaho look stellar. Since the first significant snowfall at Bogus Basin on October 24, we’ve seen a surplus of snow in the mountains of The Gem State, while our southern valleys have been doused in rain.
As of January 5, the snowpack for the Boise/Payette/Lower Snake River watershed is at a whopping 145% of normal. Bogus Basin, which had a late arrival of winter, is now boasting a base depth of 60 inches with a season total of over 11 feet of snow! To put that in perspective, Bogus has already received over half of its annual average snowfall (250″) in just two months.