(WOWK) – In winter it helps to not only know what’s happening now and next, but quite often it really helps to know what’s out there on the ground right now in terms of snow.

While we can go out and measure outside our door, we can’t measure everywhere in the area. That’s where our Stormtracker 13 VIPIR Snow Cover product comes in to help.

Through the use of the most modern satellite measurements and algorithms, we can paint out a map of where snow has fallen and also determine how deep the snow is.

Snow Depth product showing the snow pack in Colorado from October 23, 2019

Knowing the snow depth isn’t just good info for plow crews and transportation, but it gives us an idea of where water is locked up in the form of snow. We can gauge the kind of meltoff we may see and if that may contribute to any possible flooding in the future. We can see where a passing airmass may get “refrigerated” as it passes over snowy land, amid other uses for this data.

Also, it’s just fun to know how much snow there is left on the ground.

Look for our exclusive Snow Cover map on WOWK 13 News during the winter months.

Be sure to stay ahead of winter the WOWK StormTracker 13 App free from the App Store or Google Play.