SNOTEL Snowpack & % of Median by Radius: data from the USDA NRCS Air and Water Database (SWE, Snow Depth, Precipitation)

Get snow water equivalent (SWE), percent of median, snow depth, season precipitation and temperature from about 900 automated SNOTEL mountain stations, using USDA NRCS data. Search by radius around any point, by state, by watershed (HUC prefix) or by station, and get the latest reading or one row per station per day for any date range. Each row includes the station's median peak SWE and median peak date. No API key, no login. Published by BigSky Data Tools.

NOT FOR SAFETY-CRITICAL USE: data may be delayed or incomplete; not for life-safety, navigation or emergency decisions; use official NRCS sources.

Quality flags: this Actor does not output per-value NRCS quality-control or quality-assurance flags. Check the NRCS AWDB source if you need them.

NRCS data condition: NRCS: "The data you have obtained from this automated Natural Resources Conservation Service database are subject to revision regardless of indicated Quality Assurance level. Data are released on condition that neither the NRCS nor the United States Government may be held liable for any damages resulting from its use." Our cleaning does not make the data final. Each row carries this condition in a dataNotice field.

Why use this snowpack data tool?

• 📍 Radius search, nearest first: "every SNOTEL site within 40 miles of this resort, reservoir or ranch". Each row has distanceMiles.
• 📊 % of median computed for you: swePctOfMedian and precipPctOfMedian, next to the raw values and the daily medians NRCS publishes.
• 🏔️ Peak context: medianPeakSweIn and medianPeakDate tell you where the season usually tops out.
• 🌊 Watershed filter: hucPrefix selects stations by hydrologic unit (e.g. 1401 Colorado headwaters).
• 🗓️ Two modes: latest reading per station, or daily history for a date range.
• 📈 Change fields: sweChange1dIn, sweChange7dIn and snowDepthChange1dIn show melt or new snow at a glance.

How it compares

In our Apify Store search on 2026-10-31 we did not find another Actor offering all of the features marked Yes below together; some alternatives offer individual features, as the "Typical alternatives" column shows. The Store may have changed since.

	This tool	Typical alternatives
Radius search, nearest first	Yes	By state
Watershed (HUC) filter	Yes	No
Daily history for a date range	Yes	Latest reading only
% of median and median peak	Yes	Yes

Who uses it

Water utilities and irrigation districts, hydropower operators, commodity and energy traders, ag lenders and ranchers, ski resorts and outdoor businesses, avalanche and backcountry apps, reinsurance and flood analysts, and researchers.

Input example

{ "latitude": "39.6403", "longitude": "-106.3742", "radiusMiles": 40 }

Daily history for a state: { "mode": "daily", "states": ["UT"], "startDate": "2026-03-01", "endDate": "2026-03-05" }

Output example

{ "stationId": "842", "stationTriplet": "842:CO:SNTL", "stationName": "Vail Mountain", "state": "CO", "county": "Eagle",
  "huc": "140100030102", "elevationFt": 10290.0, "latitude": 39.61765, "longitude": -106.38019, "distanceMiles": 1.6,
  "date": "2026-10-30", "sweIn": 0.3, "sweMedianIn": 1.0, "swePctOfMedian": 30, "snowDepthIn": 0,
  "precipAccumIn": 1.2, "precipAccumMedianIn": 2.8, "precipPctOfMedian": 43, "tempObsF": 38.7, "tempMaxF": 50.2, "tempMinF": 35.2,
  "medianPeakSweIn": 20.8, "medianPeakDate": "04-27",
  "source": "USDA NRCS Air and Water Database (SNOTEL)", "sourceUrl": "https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=842" }

Export to JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or use the Apify API, Make, Zapier or n8n. Schedule it daily during snow season.

Pricing

$7 per 1,000 results ($0.007 per result) plus a $0.01 start fee per run.

Pay per result: you pay for each row saved. Latest mode returns one row per station (about 900 for the whole network). Daily mode returns one row per station per day, so cap it with dates and maxResults. Free-plan users can try it within their monthly platform credit.

FAQ

Where does the data come from? From the public Air and Water Database web service of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (National Water and Climate Center). Recent values are provisional. Source data are works of the U.S. federal government (USDA NRCS) and generally not subject to U.S. copyright (17 U.S.C. 105). This is not a license or warranty; third-party or foreign rights may apply. You are responsible for how you use the data. Why is % of median empty? Early or late in the season the NRCS median can be zero, and for some stations and dates (new stations, or gaps in the record) NRCS publishes no median at all. Each row's pctOfMedianNote says which: median is 0 (early/late season) or NRCS publishes no median for this station/date. If SWE and precipitation differ, the note is prefixed, for example SWE: median is 0 (early/late season). If NRCS has no reading at all, the note says so, for example precip: no NRCS precipitation reading for this station/date (or SWE: no NRCS snow water equivalent reading for this station/date). Multiple reasons are joined with ; . The note is empty when both percentages are computed. Is this tool run by the data agency? No. BigSky Data Tools is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by USDA or NRCS. Do not use it for avalanche or safety decisions.

Is the data guaranteed? No. The tool and data are provided as is, without warranty of accuracy, completeness or timeliness, and values can differ from the source agency's official products.