Tioga Pass Prognosticator 37. Spring opening competition!

In my previous post, I mentioned there is snow in this weekends forecast "That's unlikely to amount to much". There is now a Winter storm warning in effect from 11am Saturday until 8am Sunday morning for heavy snow. This could bring up to 24 inches of fresh snow and the possibility of winds reaching 75mph along exposed ridges! Travel is described as "Very difficult, to impossible with risks of extensive tree damage and wind chill factors as low as 20 below zero"

The Plow teams continue with their effort, but it seems they have a bit of work still ahead of them !

The latest update.

Quote:

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May 2, 2024

The roads crew has plowed 24 miles from the Crane Flat gate and is currently working east of Porcupine Flat Campground.

Snow depths range from three to five feet. The snow is refreezing overnight, which making progress more difficult. A winter weather advisory is in effect this weekend, so plows may be diverted to keeping other park roads clear.

Avalanche team continues to monitor avalanche zones and has scouted as far as Tioga Pass. Buildings and Grounds staff have made an initial assessment of White Wolf, but the area is still buried in several feet of snow.

May 1 snow survey results are in. Snow (water content) is at 87% for the Tuolumne River basin and 106% for the Merced River basin.

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Dave

An update on the view from the High Sierra webcam shows some nice fresh snow.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...inel-May-5.jpg

And it made for a pretty scene at Yosemite falls. They look to be flowing well!
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...alls-May-5.jpg

Dave

And another one from this morning:

https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../0506_0728.jpg

Photo provided by and courtesy of The Yosemite Conservancy

May 6th at 07:30 am PDT

I am going to add another prognostication for the opening. Weirdly, I can't seem to ping the poll.

Anyway, I am going to guess June 7th at 8 am!

The rocks are coming out!!!

https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../0509_1351.jpg

May 9th at 1:51 pm PDT

Mark

The blowers and plows have been up on Olmstead point but progress has been slowed by fresh snow, and the need to send machinery away to attend to other roads. It's also still an active avalanche zone, so progress is cautious and rightly so!
Olmstead point.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...nt-plowing.jpg

A different picture for the High Sierra webcam where the snow continues to melt away.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...ads/May-11.jpg

The other news is that Glacier point is getting the finishing touches and is due to open on May 14th at 8am. Great news for anyone visiting the park. What a spectacular drive!

Dave.

And the snow is essentially gone now!

https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...t-09-58-13.png
May 14, 2024 at 10:00 am PDT

The snow is really disappearing fast, but the crews still have work to do. They have plowed their way along Tioga pass and are now concentrating on getting the full width of the road open, and access to the side roads in Tuolumne meadows! The crews have spread charcoal through the Olmstead point area to speed up the snowmelt process, although it is still an active avalanche zone at this time. If conditions permit, additional work crews could gain access to buildings and facilities in the coming week to get them set up for the season.

Todays image from the High Sierra webcam.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...nel-May-19.jpg

Time for a punt! I predict the pass will open Monday June 3rd at 8am.

Dave

NPS reports have confirmed the road will not open for Memorial Day Weekend, so I will need to throw in a new guess. While I believe it will actually open on May 31 or June 1, keeping the 15 day rule in mind, I will throw my latest dart for Saturday, June 8 at 9 am.

Since my original guess already passed, my new one is June 11 at noon.

The crews continue to work on opening the road, Culvert clearing, hazard tree mitigation, sign repair, snow clearing of side roads and campgrounds, de-winterization of employee housing and visitor use facilities, are all on-going. The weather may help this week, the temperatures starting to stay above freezing overnight and could rise to 70F during the day towards the end of the week. This is important as the sewage disposal ponds and some vault toilet materials are still frozen, and they will not open up to visitors until the facilities are operational.

Dave

Is it not open yet? Maybe my 14th June is going to be the winner! I realised I should have posted a time so I will go with 16:10 London time (when I shall be precisely 50 years old!)