Outcome:
So yes, we got back above the pre-melt depth; in fact well above: 143.8 cm on Wednesday 27th vs 95.1 cm the previous Tuesday, both at Spencers Creek midway between Perisher Valley and Thredbo, NSW (data from Snowy Hydro Limited). This was a huge week of snow, with 72.7 cm net depth gain from Friday to Wednesday. That’s very likely an official ‘dump’, though it didn’t happen in a single fall. (My definition of a ‘dump’ is >50 cm Thursday-to-Thursday interpolated weekly gain, so we really need one more measure to confirm it properly.)
The depth gain and loss chart is now as erratic as I can recall, with a big mid-season melt followed by a big depth gain. Probably that reflect the warm wet state of our atmosphere, due to the current states of those huge oceans to our west and east (IOD and SOI).
2016 Spencers Creek snow depth gain and loss
Original post 23 July)
After one of the wettest winter weeks in recent memory, it’ll be interesting to see whether the line-up of weak fronts on the way can get us to break even by Thursday’s snow depth measure.
The first of those is already in — this morning — without much excitement (10 cm). There are three more on the way: Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday night, neatly lined up in this Bureau of Meteorology ACCESS-G model image:
BOM ACCESS-G for Sunday night
Seems to be delivering.