MAJOR SNOWSTORM-4FT OF SNOW FOR SIERRA NEXT WEEKEND 3/17

[TahoeJeff]

It's "snaining" pretty hard here at 6200'....

[Jimr]

Slushies from heaven?

[paul]

Now we're talkin - remote sensors say 35" new snow in last 24 hrs at Ostrander Lake. 14" at Lower Relief Valley in the Emigrant. 2" of water content at Bishop Pass.

[rlown]

62" at the tioga pass entry station.. very nice rebound.. even crowley picked up snow.. I'm guessing the skeeter fest will be back on..

[oldranger]

Russ,

62" means about 6" or so of water/ice. Doesn't take long to melt that much ice. While it is a nice start I wouldn't change prediction yet about what summer will bring. Check winter of 84-85, big march after low snow then nothing for remainder of year. I backpacked that year in May above 11,000 ft, going past frozen upper Sphinx lakes over into the Brewer drainage. Extremely shallow snowpack above Sphinx lakes on N. Slope and virtually no snow on south slopes on Brewer side. Also if you subtract October snowfall for this year since it pretty much melted out before next snow you will note that snowfall this winter is pretty comperable to 84-85. Not saying you will be wrong but this storm alone will not change water conditions dramatically come late May, June or July.

Mike

[rlown]

not saying you're wrong, but we need all we can get. this was a good one, given the winter pattern.

[tim]

Definitely helpful for the water supply (especially as a lot of the heaviest rain earlier in the week was in the Feather river basin), but doesn't look like a game changer. Certainly a far cry from March 1991 (175 inches of snow at Mammoth) - though we might end up with a similar total to that season (242 inches of snow), albeit with a fair amount of our snow falling early this season and then melting out.

Mammoth has received 42 inches so far from this storm (for a total of 60 inches to date in March and 202 inches so far this season). They still have only 60% of the average snowfall for the season and less than a third of last year's total snowfall. Hopefully we can both ski over spring break and then have a great summer for backpacking!

[SSSdave]

Good totals from the end of the storm generally across southern areas of the state and Sierra that have been so bone dry. Without the rains lower elevations would have remained dry brown with few wildflowers but at least now even if it hardly rains any more there will be a minor burst of short green grasses then wildflowers mainly where water channels by mid April that will come and go. Carrizo Plain had well over an inch, Antelope Valley nearly an inch, east slope areas of the tail of the Southern Sierra nearly an inch, Yosemite Valley 3.5 inches and gauges down the Merced canyon similarly, and Borrego Springs nearly a half inch. Valley foothill areas all the way south from the Delta generally picked up 2 or 3 inches that bodes well for a mid April bloom.

Areas north of the SF Bay Area including the northern Sierra received large multi inch totals mainly before the weekend. Just a few miles east of here Ben Lomand received over 16 inches.

[hikerchick395]

Bishop only got .08" of precip. Received only .25" here closer to the mountains...

[Wild Bill]

It was a good "little" dumper; and every little bit helps. But the most important part was that there was good water content in the snow. I got up close and personal by doing some shoverling Saturday. It was good old fashioned "Sierra Cement!" Wet and heavy on the east slope here at 7,000'.