Idaho selkirks

**cyborg** · 04-01-2014, 07:24 PM

I've googled all over, but this question has been burning a hole in the back of my head. It's purely to satisfy my weather/terrain geek urges. Do the Idaho selkirks get similar quantities of snow to the southern bc selkirks around Nelson? They're so close but if you compare a mountain like Schweitzer or the surrounding snotel sites to the stuff up in Nelson, there's a big discrepancy. I would think because of the intercontinental snowpack that it would be one of the snowiest places in Idaho, but I can't tell.

Additionally, what area of Idaho receives the most snow? I only want to know because it's easy to find data on Colorado, Utah, Washington and Cali, and not too hard for Oregon, Wyoming and Montana, but data for Idaho continues to elude me.

**cyborg** · 04-04-2014, 09:42 AM

No one? Guess I'll have to hunt down a meteorologist...

**wolfelot** · 04-04-2014, 10:04 AM

MY sister-in-law worked at the Schwiz for seasons so I became somewhat familiar with the weather up there. I always attributed Nelson/Whitewater being so much snowier because they are ~115 miles due north and the base of Whitewater is 700 ft higher than the village at Schweitzer. WW is 1500 ft higher than the base of Stella on the backside of the Schwiz.

That has to account for at least some of the difference. You are correct though, there is a lot less info on the Selkirks than some other mountain ranges.

**Shredhead** · 04-04-2014, 11:26 AM

I have a bud that lives on Priest Lake. We spoke about it a bit this winter. He acknowledged that the Canadian range gets a lot more snow.

**SterlingSpikeDancer** · 04-04-2014, 10:26 PM

I heard Pomerelle was a little snow trap for Idaho, but not with any certainty, and that is in the wrong part of the state for your inquiry. Overall I think the great mountains in ID suffer from elevation insufficiency for prolific snowfall.

**kootenayskier** · 04-05-2014, 08:26 AM

The Nelson Range (Whitewater - Wildhorse - Kootenay Pass) effectively extends to just north of Priest Lake, and gets similar snowfall along it's length. From the size of the Cedars along the Upper Priest River (largest I've seen in the interior) you know this area gets allot of precipitation. Mountains are smaller and less rugged around Schweitzer, so slightly less snow.

**jono** · 04-17-2014, 07:29 PM

Trouble is figuring out what typical means. The last several years have shown pretty noticeable differences between the southern Selkirks and the I-90 corridor, with some years favoring Schweitzer and others favoring Silver and Lookout. Seems like we've seen similar variations comparing to Canada, but I haven't paid enough attention to say if it's been quite as extreme. Last year the SNOTEL on the top of Schweitzer peaked at almost 4x what it's showing now for snowpack and locals just love to argue about whether things are different from twenty years ago...as the climate guys say, variability exceeds trends.

**theshredder** · 04-20-2014, 04:55 PM

I'm not a meteorologist but I thought Id add some of what I know anyway...

This is from wikipedia and shows terrain height and an outline of the Selkirks.

Most precip in the mountains happens when air is forced up and over them (orographic) and so depends a lot on the height of the terrain the air is passing over and the height of mountain ranges upstream, along the trajectory of the moisture feed, which sap moisture before it gets to ranges further inland. The Coast mountains and the Cascades are what lies to the northwest to southwest, respectively, of the Selkirk range and there isn't really a whole lot of high terrain to the south.

So for the southern Selkirks, I'd guess that the heaviest precipitation events occur when the moisture source is more out of the south, rather than out of the west or northwest, which also seems to be true around Nelson. So for the same storms that really dump in the Nelson area, you'd think the southern parts of the Selkirks would get even more.

But in a year like the last year when flow was generally more out of the northwest/west, putting southern areas of the Selkirks more in the lee of larger mountains upstream, probably areas further north would get the heavier precip. It'll vary a lot from year to year though, with years where the moisture feed is more out of the south being the wetter years. But then you'd also tapping into a warmer source and more precip would come down as rain. sortof a catch 22.

**sal the salmon** · 09-28-2014, 11:38 AM

the wettest spot in idaho is in the cabinet mountains, about 40 miles east of swhwiz

**Black Ops Valdez** · 10-01-2014, 11:38 AM

Our friend lives near Schweitzer, and he agrees the snow levels are not even half of what they get in Canada.

-BOV

**sal the salmon** · 10-05-2014, 01:59 AM

Selkirk crest had snow this morning at 7am. Very light dusting.

**sal the salmon** · 10-05-2014, 02:30 AM

yea.. um goodnight.

**chiller** · 10-05-2014, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by Black Ops Valdez

Our friend lives near Schweitzer, and he agrees the snow levels are not even half of what they get in Canada.

-BOV

Schweitzer's snow depths compared to wh20's are usually less but not by much.

**Gcooker** · 10-05-2014, 10:20 AM

Anyone know if there is a camping lot at Schweitzer? Looking to do a little road trip in a rented Rv this winter.... Route so far is Baker, Stevens, Schweitzer, whitewater, red, back to the coast...

**Flyoverland Captive** · 10-05-2014, 11:39 AM

Schweitzer has an RV lot near the lodge; free in summer, small fee in winter. No hookups.

**Gcooker** · 10-05-2014, 04:42 PM

Beauty, thanks for the info ^^^

**Flyoverland Captive** · 10-05-2014, 05:24 PM

Happy to help.

They don't have hookups, but they provide a dumpster and porta-potties, and there's a dump station on the way back into Sandpoint. I've stayed in that lot a couple times, fun vibe.