New snow: 18 inches Total settled snow depth: 22 inches (at 8,600 feet) High temperature: 51°F (April 14) Low temperature: 2°F (April 17) Ski Conditions and Weather This is our final post of the winter of 2018. Several storms came through the central Sierra Nevada this week leaving fresh snow and cold temperatures in their wake. This time of year the new snow generally melts pretty fastby FatFlatlander - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Gorgeous view this morning with the fresh snow and sunlight. video: https://www.yosemiteconservancy.org/webcams/yosemite-fallsby FatFlatlander - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Impressive! And I'm assuming the second video is from 20180415... because if it's from 20180715 that's really, REALLY impressive! I'll definitely have to add the confluence of the South and Middle Tuolumne Rivers to my ever-growing list of hiking destinations. I assume you park on Old Big Oak Flat Road and walk down from there? Thanks for sharing these.by FatFlatlander - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I believe the first table at that link shows the NWS forecasted river level, and the second table (with red numbers) shows the actual recorded values. The max value I saw there was 13.73 feet and 12,229 cfs at 18:15 yesterday. Either way, lots of water going down the valley.by FatFlatlander - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Per the Nat'l Weather Service website, the Merced River is at 13.6 feet (12,000 cfs!) at Pohono bridge as of 4pm and looks like it is just about cresting. Flood stage is 10 feet, and Northside and Southside drives are supposed to be closed at 12.5 feet, so this is a pretty significant flooding event. Last year during the January flood event the river crested at 12.7 feet. The NWS site lists someby FatFlatlander - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks for the info about the El Portal facilities... I wasn't aware that those were within the NPS domain.by FatFlatlander - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
How frequently does this happen? I remember last winter (early Jan 2017) they closed the Valley down due to flooding concerns. We were staying up in Yosemite West and had to divert south through Wawona and Oakhurst to get home. It's happening again just over a year later. I don't recall hearing about such an evacuation in previous years. Of course, we've had several years of drought so thatby FatFlatlander - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra