Tioga Pass Prognosticator #7

[Mark Sedenquist]

If you are just joining this thread today -- go to the first page of this thread to see the most recent photos of the entry station -- plowing has certainly commenced.

[Southwest Dave]

Scroll up to post 13 Mark, Exodus first post provided a good link to Data for the pass including snow depths.
I was just comparing this years to last years depth and it's at similiar levels but the temps are warmer at the moment. Add that to the fact Glacier point is being estimated to open over a week earlier than last year and just maybe it's not going to be a late opening.
I will add I looked at the forecast and they give fresh snow Thurs through the weekend though.

[exodus]

I've been doing the same, Dave. The snow depths around this time of the year pretty much correlate to the opening dates, but avalanches or other road issues can slow things down so it's not completely consistent.

What's kinda strange about this year is that we've gotten more snow in terms of depth, but the water content of the snow is about 7 - 10% less than last year. Makes me want to take a meteorology class to figure out how that could be the case. haha. :)

[Southwest Dave]

That's some serious progress they made !

[Taken from the Yosemite site]

Tioga Road Plowing Update for April 20:

Start: Crane Flat
End: 7 miles past Crane Flat (just beyond South Fork bridge)
Miles plowed today: 7 miles
Average snow depth: 4 feet

[exodus]

More progress yesterday:

Tioga Road Plowing Update for April 21:

Start: 7 miles from Crane Flat
End: 11.7 miles from Crane Flat (8,000 foot marker)
Miles plowed today: 4.7 miles
Average snow depth: 4.5 feet


So, do they plow from both ends? Seems like they might be since you can see plowing work on the web cam.

[Kinless]

I guess I better get in my vote before it's too late. They seem to be making decent progress on the plowing so I'll go for Wednesday, May 20th @ 12:00pm PDT. That may be a little earlier than what's predicted, but I'm testing to see if my theoretical calculations (based on past history) do me any favors.

That, and I can't stand to choose a date that doesn't end in 0 or 5, despite the fact the Tioga hasn't opened on such a date in almost 15 years. Yep, I'm a nut.

[exodus]

Tioga Road Plowing Update for April 27:

Start: White Wolf
End: Yosemite Creek
Average snow depth: 3 feet

Also, you can go here for an updated map of the progress:

http://www.myyosemite.com/tioga-pass-may-open-52209

[glc]

Woohoo - maybe May 22? I love free gas!

Let me add - 8am PDT!

[pkb4809]

Hi

Just found this thread ... looks like fun ;-)

Despite the fact that they're predicting May 22 on the site exodus linked to ... the progress they're making looks much better than that ... to a Brit with no idea like me ... so I'll guess at Tuesday 19 May at 10:30 am.

It's a shame that all of that white stuff will be gone when I get anywhere near there in mid July.

PhilB

[Midwest Michael]

A reminder as we're getting later in spring, your guess has to be at least 15 days after your posting date. Its hard to believe, but we're already just 2 weeks from mid-may. If you're hoping for a date in mid to late May, you better get your answer in quickly!

And Joey, you put two different dates down, one in your subject line (may 15), and the other in the body of your post (may 20). I assume you mean the 20th from the body of your post, but you might want to clarify that.