see the link, there is a difference also between fluffy new snow and snow packs in the mountains.

Here is a link that might be useful: snow to water conversion

'Rule of thumb' one inch of rain = one foot snow. A foot of snow will melt slowly and either seep into unfrozen soil or run off slowly and harmlessly.

Since the ratios vary so much in terms of fluffy snow vs hard packed snow, I just decided to open the kitchen slider, fill a cup of snow which felt like semi-packing snow (I know....pretty scientific terms!)...measured exactly one cup and melted it in the microwave oven......drum roll.......resulting in 1/2 cup of water for that consistency. Nothin else to do this am (posted my ruffled hosta and Qs already) besides sipping coffee...lol...

Hey Paula, want some snow? I got plenty to go around and love to share!!!

Its not often someone asks about something I actually know anything about but snow ... well we do know about snow in this neck of the woods.

The commonly used ratio of an inch of rain equals a foot of snow is a useful approxination though packed snow or ice is a bit denser and contains more water. Typically, here, winter cold lasts till mid march and then the days routinely get above freezing for the high - the snowpack of roughly18 to 24 inches melts. It is gone by the end of the first week of april with breakup of the Rideau River about the same time followed a bit later by breakup on the Ottawa River. The ground thaws by mid to late april.

So where does all the water go during the melt? Into the rivers just as any rain would. The ground is frozen rock hard (frost line here is 42 inches) so the water simply runs off on the surface. In the rivers it raises the level of the solid ice floating on underlying river water and eventually is the primary cause of the breakup. Tremendous ice damage is relatively frequent around bridge abutments and structures near the shore like docks and boathouses. Flooding is common almost every spring in lower lying areas.

For hostas ... conditions are perfect. The snow pack protects them from a premature thaw and by the time they send up shoots at the end of april into mid may, the worst is over.I have never had noticeable frost damage despite late frosts up to the beginning of June.

Thank you every one for your answers. Never having lived in snow, or really any cold, I had no idea. We often get heavy rains of up to 6 to 8" of water per hr so runoff is very important. Thank you Josephine for the micro-wave high tech experiment. You may keep your snow though. It is the first warm day in a while. (76) Have a great day, Paula

Ha, in our area over all those years April Fools Day was the first day without snow. Recently it was 2 weeks earlier.

The phrase "commonly used" is meaningless. No Thumbs involved. It all depends on the snow. I am personally connected to people who are very knowledgeable and involved in measuring the water content of snow. Some holds a lot of water and some doesn't. Out here in CA we don't count on generalities like 1" of water from 1' of snow. Our guys go up into the Sierra Mountains, and take core samples to decide how much water is in the snow...to melt and flow into the reservoirs and rivers. That is where we get most of our water on the West (Left) coast.

Sorry jonnyb023, that info is incorrect. And Dougald, your info really does only refers to "your neck of the woods". There is a whole nother world out there.

-Babka