Snow-to-Rain Ratio Calculator — Liquid Water Equivalent

Compare snow depth with the amount of liquid water represented by that snow. You can supply a snow-to-liquid ratio for either conversion direction, or enter matching measured depths to calculate the ratio. Metric and inch measurements are converted to the same length unit before division.

How to use this tool

1. Choose snow-to-water, water-to-snow or measured-ratio mode.
2. Enter the depth used by that mode and select its unit.
3. For measured ratio, enter both depths from the same area and sample period.
4. Read the liquid equivalent, snow depth and approximate bulk density together.

Formula

R = snow depth ÷ liquid-equivalent depth; liquid depth = snow depth ÷ R; density ≈ 1000 ÷ R kg/m³

R is a dimensionless depth ratio, written R:1. The density estimate uses approximately 1000 kg/m³ for liquid water and the same sampled area. Conversion modes allow zero depth; deriving a measured ratio requires positive depths.

Example

A 30 cm snow layer is 300 mm deep. At a stated 10:1 ratio it represents 30 mm of liquid water. If that same snow instead yields a measured 20 mm of water, its ratio is 15:1 and its implied density is about 66.67 kg/m³.