Tioga Pass Prognosticator #15

[Southwest Dave]

Hello Dermita and welcome to the RTA forums !

The way things are at the moment I would say you have a reasonable chance of crossing the Sierras on the Tioga Pass in late May. I think the snow pack is around 70% of average this year, but there is just no way of knowing for sure as a few late snow storms can change things quite dramatically.

I hope you have allowed time enough for your journey to enjoy Yosemite Valley, as it is also beautiful and the waterfalls should be flowing nicely, and other areas of the park like Glacier point and Mariposa Grove.

[glc]

I also wish you luck, but I have a feeling it will be quite late this year for a reason I expressed in another thread - budget cutbacks. I haven't made my guess yet, I'm waiting for further developments.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Wow, what a fast snow melt we are seeing this year....

Photo Credit: Yosemite Conservancy (March 24th at 5:15 pm PDT)

[Dermeta]

Hi there, I just found out a promising article:
Possible Memorial Day opening for Tioga Pass Road

(Note: mammothtimes.com, the source of the article above is offline at present)

[Mark Sedenquist]

You posted a very interesting photo captured by Chris Falkenstein on April 28th. I'd love to use it, but I need to confirm that you purchased rights to it?

In the meantime, here are some photos of the "normal" opening work.

Mark

[Dermeta]

You posted a very interesting photo captured by Chris Falkenstein on April 28th. I'd love to use it, but I need to confirm that you purchased rights to it?

Sorry, Google said it was few days old, and I haven't purchased the rights to it, my mistake to post it.
That looks like a lot of snow to plow through... ;)

[Mark Sedenquist]

No worries, we try and hold the line (in the sand) a bit here, so that professional photographers are paid for their work. Chris captures some really incredible photos of Yosemite!

And he tends to have the earliest photos of the snowmelt.

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

It's snowing right now in Yosemite and it will be 81 degrees in Raleigh, NC in the morning.

Wild weather days.

Mark

[elbarto]

Hey all
I've been following this thread for quite some time now, as we'll do our first roadtrip this May. We tried to plan the tioga pass as late as possible in our schedule, but with that sequestration ... it seems like it might not be late enough. Without it, I guess this might have been one of the earliest openings ever, but damn those budget cuts !

Anyway, I guess (and really hope) the pass opens on May 22nd at noon, since we're planned to pass the next day in the morning.

So if any of you plowers read this topic, please open up a few days earlier instead of just before Memorial Day :) (because we're in SF by then).

Until then I'm keeping a close eye on the weather conditions at Tuolumne Meadows.

Bart (from Belgium)

[Southwest Dave]

Hello Bart and welcome to the RTA forums !

You never know for sure with the Tioga, a couple of heavy late storms change everything, but I would suggest the odds are well in your favour. The river in the meadows is reportedly opening up with the sound of rushing water and there are reports of bare patches on the road. With the weather forecast predicting clear skys and temps up on the high ground reaching into +50F it looks even more promising.

With a low snow depth of around 20" in the Meadows at present, the newly laid snow should fast dissapear in the sun. Possible budget cuts and a major late storm system aside, I think this could be one of the earliest openings on record, if not the earliest !

[Hope that statement doesn't turn out to be the 'kiss of death' ! lol

Dave.