Winter Rite of Passage: Tioga Pass Prognosticator #12

[Mark Sedenquist]

This is what we've wanted to see for a bit!


Photo courtesy of the Yosemite Conservancy

(Taken on Saturday, January 21st at about 5:00 pm PST)

And here is another timelapse work -- it's not video...It is an endless string of still photos with the camera set up on a motorized track. Very cool.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Look at the lower right-hand corner of the current Web cam photo... It looks like we're seeing the first indication of serious accumulation on the slope in front of the camera!

[CAnative]

Mammoth is close enough to Yosemite to suggest that there is lots of snow up in the Sierras Storm total calculation started on Jan 19th.

New Snowfall
21"

in the last 24 hours


Storm Total
4 ft

[Mark Sedenquist]

Mammoth Mountain is in the same mountain range, but it is an eastern slope watershed and the snowfall patterns have very little to do with the snow storms on the western slope. Mammoth gets a lot more snow than just about every place in the Sierras.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Looks very murky up there at the moment with more snowfall today and possibly tonight. It is then forecast to clear on Tuesday and then temperatures to rise from Weds through the weekend, reaching mid to high 50's with blue sky's.

There are reports of around 18" of snow around Tuolumne Meadows. Hopefully we will get some updates by the end of the week, if not before.

On a slightly different note. Reports are coming out of Yosemite regarding a rock fall on the Big Oak Flat road [CA120] blocking access to the park on that route. Access to the Valley is via Highways 41 and 140.

[CAnative]

Thank you for explanation. I know Mammoth gets more snow and thought there would be a correlation with other locations, e.g. lots of snow there would suggest snow (but not same amount) at other locations and very little or no snow there would suggest very little or no snow at other locations on mountain range.

Apologies for mistake.

[Mark Sedenquist]

There is a correlation... but it's on the order of.... if it's snowing in Mammoth Lakes, it might be snowing somewhere else in the state. Mammoth was developed as a ski resort precisely because moisture tends to bunch-up and fall as snow in the local area. I don't remember the exact geophysical reasons -- Maybe our resident rocket scientist/geologist can share some insights?

Mark

[glc]

Current CALTRANS status:

Ebbetts Pass - closed "due to snow"
Sonora Pass - closed "for the winter" as of 1/21
Tioga Pass - closed "due to snow"
Monitor Pass - closed "due to snow"
270 to Bodie - closed "for the winter"

On another subject - Google comes up with nothing on this:

SR 1

IS CLOSED 1.8 MI SOUTH OF LUCIA (MONTEREY CO) - DUE TO A SLIDE

[Mark Sedenquist]

Yeah, this is looking gooooooooooooooooooood

Photo: Web Cam courtesy of Yosemite Conservancy
January 24, 2012 at 11:15 am PST

[glc]

CALTRANS now says that Ebbetts and Tioga are closed "for the winter". No dates on the pass closure page yet.

However, it looks like the NPS site has a date - January 17. I assume this was the planned closure at 7pm.

Paging Sheriff Dave - is this considered official?