Snowmelt season in full swing already

Mountain site (elevation 200m)

Snowmelt season has arrived very early this year, and there has been significant melt since the last snow survey on February 13th. The relative snow density is already up to around 0.42, compared to about 0.30 on February 13th. Surprisingly, melt has progressed much more rapidly at the higher elevation mountain site (200m) compared to the valley site (60m). Possible reasons are frequent temperature inversions during early spring season, and greater exposure to solar radiation and warm winds at the mountain site. Both sites have deciduous forest cover.

Snow survey summary
(depth / density / SWE)
                      Valley (60m)              Mountain (200m)
Feb 13   111cm / 0.30 / 33.6cm   120cm / 0.28 / 33.3cm
Mar 7      60cm / 0.42 / 25.2cm     48cm / 0.42 / 20.1cm

Mountain site

Valley site (elevation 60m)

Snow lysimeter at valley larch site

Tracks of "kamoshika" deer (like a mountain goat)

Takiya River

During our field work the light rain turned a little heavier (3 mm/h) and the temperature at the mountain site was 5.2 degrees Celsius.