IDAHO CITY, Idaho — Scientists measuring snowpack near Idaho City say this year’s conditions at Mores Creek Summit are unlike anything recorded in more than 90 years of observations, raising growing concern about Idaho’s summer water supply.
Snow hydrologist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Erin Whorton, hiked into the mountain snow course wearing snowshoes and carrying a federal snow sampler, a metal tube tool used across the western United States for nearly a century to measure snowpack by hand.
By collecting snow cores and measuring both depth and weight, crews calculate snow water equivalent, or SWE, the amount of water stored in the snow if it melted instantly…