Percent of median
A measurement expressed against its own historical median for the same date — the standard way snowpack and flow are compared year to year.
Raw SWE or flow numbers mean nothing without context, because every station has a different normal. Percent of median normalizes against that station's own history so a reading is immediately interpretable.
The convention matters when reading agency reporting: a basin at 70 percent of median is having a meaningfully dry year regardless of what the absolute number looks like.
Where this shows up in the data
See also
More in Hydrology & supply
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