How has this winter compared to others for the Sierra? It's been a very mild winter in the east, same for out there too? Think things will thaw out pretty early this year? Thinking about doing a JMT thru this summer.

It's winter?

Actually in all of my 30+ years of living in the foothills of the Sierras, I haven't been through this dry of a winter yet. I actually had to turn on my sprinklers in Jan. to water my lawn. I know things can change quickly with a 'pineapple-express' type spring storm, but right now we are sitting at anywhere from %25 - %40 of average depending on where in the Sierras you are getting your measurement. Take it for what it's worth, but I think if our snow pack stays low, this could be a great year to see some fastpacking records go down on the JMT and the PCT.

It's been pretty dry here. I live at the extreme northern end of the Sierra, I was only going thru 6"-8" of snow in the deepest spots a week ago snowcamping, on the edge of the Bucks Lake Wilderness in the Plumas NF and about 2' in the Meiss Meadow area by Carson Pass area off of 88 here in CA this last weekend.
Duane

Edited by hikerduane on 02/21/2012 21:52:32 MST.

Unless something changes in the next month, it will be among the driest on record. The only thing saving our bacon is last year's wet and lingering winter, which left the reservoirs in decent shape. Current SWP delivery allocation is at 50%.

What's that mean for hiking? Plan on going early--everything should be open a month or more sooner than typical. Later, expect lots of wildfires.

Cheers,

Rick

Yeah, I'm real concerned about the likelihood of some really bad wildfires with the low snow pack. Mid- to late summer could be very nasty!

what winter?

A friend was at Lake Tahoe, at lake level, and said that there was about one inch of natural snow.

--B.G.--

I was up working at Heavenly Ski resort a week or so ago, and where we had 16 - 18 feet of snow last year at this time, we had 16 - 18 inches. This was at a little over 9000 feet in elevation at the top of Motts Chair Lift. The platform I have to access there is at 15 feet, and we had to step down onto it in Feb. last year!

Edited by rp3957 on 02/23/2012 22:36:49 MST.