Winter Rite of Passage: Tioga Pass Prognosticator #12

[Southwest Dave]

..on the Yosemite NP site as open !!

With snow set to arrive on Friday accompanied by temperatues as low as 6F[- 14C] overnight, I would say Don [CalOldBlue] might not be that far away with his prediction of the 19th !

[glc]

Sonora and Ebbetts are still closed.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Sonora and Ebbetts are still closed.

Sonora Pass is kept open un-officially most of the year. When the Caltrans site shows Sonora closed -- you can usually find road closure signs about 2 miles from the snow gates on the western side -- but I've found the gates themselves open on a couple of occasions so locals on the western slope can get to the grocery stores. There is an upper gate nearer the summit which is nearly always closed if the pass is listed as "closed". Once Ebbetts closes -- it tends to stay that way, although locals seem able to access different parts of the road. One huge caveat here -- if one passes a road closed sign and one is not a "local" -- the local CHP officers take a decidedly dim view of such behavior....

[Mark Sedenquist]

CaNative's POF photo is now online.... And.... it is likely that another photo of Jessica will be on the RTA front page by Friday.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Although we mentioned the opening could be short lived, there are now some very strong winds coming down with the cold front so be sure to check conditions if you are travelling in the area and not just Tioga pass !. Up on the ridges they are predicting gusts of wind of 95mph and up to a possible 120mph !! On the 395 east of Yosemite, winds are expected to gust up to 60mph and conditions do not look great.

Take it easy !

Special weather statement issued

A STORM OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL DROP SOUTHWARD INTO THE
REGION AND BRING MUCH COLDER TEMPERATURES...GUSTY WINDS...AND
PERIODS OF SNOW TO THE SIERRA AND WESTERN NEVADA.

WINDS AHEAD OF THE STORM`S STRONG COLD FRONT WILL INCREASE
SUBSTANTIALLY TONIGHT AND FRIDAY...WITH SIERRA RIDGES GUSTING TO
BETWEEN 90 AND 120 MPH. WINDS ALONG THE 395 CORRIDOR FROM RENO
SOUTHWARD INTO MONO COUNTY ARE EXPECTED TO GUST BETWEEN 55 AND 65
MPH. WHILE EAST INTO THE WESTERN NEVADA BASIN AND RANGE WINDS
GUSTS COULD REACH 50 MPH WITH BLOWING DUST BY MID MORNING FRIDAY

[glc]

The opening was indeed very short lived! From Caltrans:

SR 120
[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA]
IS CLOSED FROM CRANE FLAT TO 5 MI WEST OF THE JCT OF US 395 /TIOGA PASS/
(TUOLUMNE, MONO CO) - FOR THE WINTER - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE
AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

[Southwest Dave]

As always, we will have to wait for the confirmation from the Yosemite NP site. Although I'm not surprised to see it closed again, I am surprised Caltrans has called it 'For the winter' at this point. The snow pack is not particularly deep and the weather forecast through next week looks reasonable enough to suggest there is a chance it may be able to reopen yet again.

I actually checked a while ago and it wasn't listed as closed then, the trouble is I can't remember if it would have been before midnight or just after when I done so, [US time] sorry Don !! ;-)

[glc]

It's not in the mountain pass closure list yet - will be interesting to see what really happens.

[Southwest Dave]

.......when you check out the Sentinel cam shot at 10:30 this morning, it looks glorious !

[CAnative]

Decisions may be made based on allocation of resources along with actual road conditions.