Mt. Rainier Snowpack
NRCS SNOTEL · 10 stations · measured against normal · 46.85°N 121.76°W
This season against normal
Snow water equivalent (SWE) is the depth of water you'd get by melting the snowpack — the number that matters for rivers and reservoirs. The dashed line is NRCS's 1991–2020 median for each date; the shading is the range of every year on record at that station.
Ten stations, 2,250 to 5,810 feet
Eight sit on Rainier or the crest beside it and make up the Rainier average. Olallie Meadows and Cougar Mountain, near Snoqualmie Pass, were part of the original seven and stay for continuity (dashed). Click a station to chart it.
Four decades of winters, and what El Niño means here
April 1 is the date water managers use to size up a winter. Bars are coloured by that winter's ENSO phase (NOAA's Oceanic Niño Index for Dec–Feb).
Rain or snow? The freezing level
A storm that brings rain to 6,000 ft and one that brings snow to 2,000 ft can carry the same water. The freezing level is estimated by fitting the stations' latest temperatures against their elevations.
Eyes on the mountain
NPS webcams at Paradise, NASA's daily MODIS snow map, the latest clear Sentinel-2 view, and a live satellite map with every station coloured by its % of median.
Where the water goes
Four USGS gauges on rivers that drain the mountain, last 7 days, hourly. Winter floods here come from atmospheric rivers — warm, wet storms that rain on the snowpack. Watch the freezing level and these lines together.