The NRCS published the February 1, 2015 Alaska Snow Survey. Its not available online yet, but will be here:
http://ambcs.org/aksnow/bor_ak.html. Some highlights:
--- Overview ---
Snowpack across most of most of the state is below normal. Much precipitation with winter came as rain across the state instead of snow and what little snow accumulated early in the season has diminished.
There is a swath of near normal snowpack. It starts in the central Copper basin and moves north across the Alaska Range into the Tanana Basin near Delta Junction and then further north into the White Mountains and into the southern Central Yukon Basin where it spreads out a little east and west. This swath, along with the Arctic (which is most likely near normal), are the only parts of the state with normal snow-pack.
Southeast Alaska is less than half normal –the further south the worse it gets. Also less than half normal is Southwest Alaska, Norton Sound and the Kenai Peninsula. Several sites on the Kenai set new 30-45 year record lows. Bertha Creek snow course only had 2” of snow with 0.4” of water content, 3% of normal. The next lowest year was last year when it had 15” of snow and 3.4” of water content.
The rest of the state was somewhere between dismal and normal. The upper Tanana, upper Koyukuk and Lower Yukon were all between 50-70% normal, while the lower Tanana and upper-Lower Yukon were between 70-90% normal.
--- Valdez ---
Worthington Glacier, just north of Thompson Pass, was 71% of normal with 54” of snow and 16.8” of water content.
--- Hatcher ---
In the Matanuska Basin, the southern Talkeetna Mountains are below normal as well. Independence Mine snow course has 38” of snow with 6.6 of water content, 77% of normal.
--- Chugach ---
If you didn’t think snow conditions in Northern Cook Inlet could get worse than last year, there’s this year to prove you wrong. Snow Conditions in Northern Cook Inlet are much below normal. The nine snow sites in the basin average only 30% of normal, down from 42% last year at this time. The Mt. Alyeska SNOTEL site had 9” of Snow with 2.4’ of water content, 12% of normal and 38% percent of what was last year’s record setting low water content. This is the lowest record since the record began in 1973.
