Re: Snow Coverage

Here is a link comparing this year with last:

http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/ski/california-sierra-nevada-snow-20121228

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Old Dude

The Mammoth snow report link also highlights the difference between this year, and last year.
In December 2011 they had 2 inches for the entire month.
In December 2012 they have had 145 inches so far in December.
That's about 12 feet of additional snow this December, versus last December!

http://www.mammothmountain.com/Mountain/Conditions/SnowConditions/

Last year I spent Christmas hiking around Tahoe. I spent 2012 Martin Luther King weekend backpacking (on dirt).

This Christmas I was skiing powder.

Quote
Jon Mure
In December 2011 they had 2 inches for the entire month.

Last Christmas I was walking on Teneya Lake.

Last year I wanted to skate on Tenaya Lake, but missed it by a week (road closed.)

We were lucky and were in Yosemite when the road was opened. We did not have any skates with us but we did walk around on the lake. One interesting thing is the sound that the ice movement on the lake makes. We had gone to Tioga Pass and on the way back we stopped along the lake when it was dark. There was no one around so it was quiet and you could hear the ice crackling and booming.

good.

Compare the snow coverage from Jan 2, 2012 - one year ago today!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nomghAaXpcc/UOSbM2YoM9I/AAAAAAAAADU/nB11VB-LXCw/s932/1-2-12+1.jpg


http://www.yosemiteconservancy.org/webcams/high-sierra

It didn't snow last year, appreciably, until the week following Martin Luther King Weekend. Even at that, in March I found myself in the ER in Truckee because, on account of the poor snow cover and my not wearing a helmet, my ski tip caught a branch underneath powder, the back flipped up, and the edge whacked the back of my head.

Yeah, I'm much happier with winter this year.

Ran across this that people may find of interest:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/hydrology-map.htm

The neat thing about this map is that it is click-able... and will bring
up USGS or CDEC websites with data on the location.

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Quote
chick-on
Ran across this that people may find of interest:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/hydrology-map.htm

The neat thing about this map is that it is click-able... and will bring
up USGS or CDEC websites with data on the location.

Neat, indeed. It shows the actual GPS locations of the stations.

But then, what is the gizmo across the road from the old Smoky Jack Campground? It sure looks like a microwave snow gauge, but it's not on the map...

Dunno. Is it this? Or is there more near Smoky?


The one at Tenaya is interesting. There's a big square pad that seems to be jell filled.

Wild guess is it is used to determine water content via some fancy calculations. ???

I'll spare you the other stations...

Def. doesn't show all stations. There is a new one at the top of Wapama not shown.

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Quote
chick-on
Wild guess is it is used to determine water content via some fancy calculations. ???

It's called a snow pillow and is nothing more than a fancy scale.