Quick report
On 1/30/2026 Post Falls High School went out as part of The Confluence Project; a water science based educational program for North Idaho High School students. As part of the snow science curriculum students dig snow pits in effort to get Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) observations for the snowpack . This involves getting density measurements of each layer of snow and calculating total SWE using these density calculations. The weather was overcast and air temp was 35°F/1°C. Total depth of the snow pack ranged from 50-70cm across all test pits and number of layers ranged from 6-8 for most students. The control pit details: -4770' elevation -97° E -25° slope -The terrain is mostly gladed with interspersed with occasional pockets of open slope. (In the trees) The shallow snowpack at this lower elevation was isothermal, composed of 7 layers and mostly comprised of melt form crystals with a conspicuous 2cm ice layer at around 17-18cm which was encountered in all pits. This ice layer was sandwich by relatively softer (1F) snow than seen in the rest of the snowpack. No stability tests were performed. See snowpilot figure for more detail