Snow pillow

A snow pillow is a device for measuring snowpack, especially for automated reporting stations such as SNOTEL.

[1] Any discrepancy due to bridging is minimized by the large dimension of the pillow, typically 9 square metres (11 sq yd).

Another application for snow pillows is to estimate the snow weight on a roof to warn of potential for roof collapse.

Snow pillows were developed in the early 1960s.

[2] Large dimensions (e.g. 3 m × 3 m) of the pillow prevent any bridging that might occur from having an effect on the measurement readings.