Competition time. Welcome to the 39th Tioga pass Prognosticator. Spring opening 2025

[Mark Sedenquist]

Today, Tucson's temperature officially reached 100°F, known locally as "Ice Out on the Rillito",

I had never heard of this, so, of course I wanted to know more. It is similar to the Tioga Pass Prognosticator Challenge!

[AZBuck]

When I was going to school here in the late '80s, I remember hearing it referred to as "Ice Out on the Rillito", but that may have been me remembering my time in Maine where Ice Out is the term used, and actually means something. Apparently the 'official' name here is Ice Break on the Santa Cruz, into which the Rillito 'flows'. And yes, there is a contest run by a local TV station to guess the date each Spring when that happens.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

Settled weather, warm temperatures and blue skies would suggest Spring has arrived to Yosemite and is melting the snow away, fast!


Image courtesy of Yosemite Conservancy.

I believe that Caltrans have started plowing the road from Lee Vining to the East entrance to Yosemite, but I have not seen any mention of the Yosemite crews being deployed to set up for plowing the Tioga pass, or Glacier point for that matter. I would imagine them to start in the coming days, unless there are other reasons at play, apart form the current conditions which seem ideal.

Dave

[Mark Sedenquist]

One thing that could be delaying the start of plowing on the Yosemite NP side, is that there could have been firings and layoffs, courtesy of the Federal government. We know that several thousand NPS employees were fired -- and scores of them were at Yosemite.

Hopefully, they managed to retain most of the skilled positions on the highway crews.

The melting of the snow in the web cam is accelerating at a pace I would never have thought possible. Streams and waterfalls are going to be rockin'!

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

The Rocks are Back!

Wow, this is melting so fast!

April 24th at 12:00 Noon PDT -- Photo courtesy of The Yosemite Conservancy

[Mark Sedenquist]

Wow, a chance of decent snow on Saturday and Sunday.

That is a bit of a surprise. And the low for the valley on Sunday is 15 degrees F. (brrrr!)

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

The road crews have been Plowing the road since April 22nd and by the 24th they had covered 12 miles of road clearing, this puts them about 3 miles from White Wolf. It doesn't look as though this weekends snow will amount to much so they should be able to 'plow on'.

Plow crews also reached Glacier Point on April 20. Clearing trees, fixing road damage, setting up vault toilets, installing signs, and other tasks are still required before the road opens.

Dave

[Southwest Dave]

There is a Winter weather warning in place for Yosemite NP park and there could be more snow than I first thought.

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM PDT
SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Snow. Additional snow accumulations up to 10 inches.

* WHERE...Yosemite National Park to Sequoia National Park.

* WHEN...Until 11 AM PDT Sunday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Plan on slippery road conditions. Gusty winds could bring down tree
branches. Slow down and use caution while traveling. The latest road
conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by
calling 5 1 1.

Dave

[Mark Sedenquist]

It is really is incredible to have this cooling trend.

I had to wear a jacket today when I practiced Yoga in the park. I have never seen such chilly weather this time of year before in Las Vegas.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Looking at the Webcam image, the weekends snow doesn't appear to have had much impact.



Here are images from Yosemite NP of the plows near White Wolf on April 24th.



Dave