Corps of Engineers begins snow surveys in Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is sending a survey team around Minnesota to conduct snow surveys March 4 to 8, while Corps park rangers are conducting surveys near the Mississippi River Headwaters.

The surveys will aid the Corps’ water management team in determining what the snow water equivalent, or how much water, is located within the snowpack. This information is also shared with other agencies, such as the National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The survey team will begin near Minneapolis March 4 and make a counterclockwise trip around the state. They will survey areas near Duluth, Minn.; Brainerd, Minn.; and Moorhead, Minn.

The process involves going to a predetermined location and gathering snow through a snow tube. The snow is then measured for its weight, and the totals are converted using a mathematical formula to determine the water content.

The Corps will monitor the region for future snow storms, and they will conduct additional surveys if needed.

The nearly 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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