NASA snow data that helps California put to work in Colorado

NASA is providing California with valuable data about how much water is locked up in its mountain snows, and now Colorado is trying the technique.

Instruments aboard a NASA plane measure how deep the snow is and how much of the sun’s warming rays are bouncing off it. The data helps regulators calculate when it will melt and how much water it will release into rivers.

That’s critical information in the West, where three-quarters of its water supply comes from melting mountain snow.

Colorado signed up for NASA flights over its southern mountains, where the Rio Grande begins its journey to New Mexico and Texas. The data will help Colorado determine how much water to send downstream to those states and how much to keep for local use.