Page 1 of 2

2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:21 pm
by rlown
nice to see they're working the road. http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
she's gonna be cleaned quickly. unless..

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:30 pm
by Hobbes
rlown wrote:she's gonna be cleaned quickly. unless..
After all these years, my wife knows to ask a surfer what the weather is going to be like. Here's a brief recap from a web site I check on a regular basis (the guy actually lives within 1 mile of me):

***

North Pacific Swell Forecast

The NPAC is proving there is still some life in the ol’ girl. The classic springtime pattern is still in place, with the NE High-pressure holding to the N of Hawaii and leaving bit of a curving storm track that is letting systems move into the Gulf of Alaska and down the West Coast. Generally this is a better thing for spots North of Point Conception…where the spots can pick up the steeper NW swell angles…but it also (thanks to upwelling) turns the water frozen buttocks cold. Will see a little bit of that WNW-NW windswell (from the close proximity storms) but a lot of the energy gets blocked by Point Conception and the Nearshore islands.

Image

+60hr - There is a storm moving out of the Gulf over the weekend that sets up further off the West Coast and moves through a better part of Socal’s swell angle. Unfortunately it looks like much of the wind will be more N-to-S, and not the west-to-east direction we need from it, so the majority of the swell will be heading to South America or Antarctica (if you don’t have a ticket to Peru it doesn’t really matter). Anyway this half-ass storm will push some small, 10-12 second WNW-NW swell (285-300) our way for around the middle of next week (April 24-26) with some knee-waist high surf for the better exposed spots.

Image

+162hr - Further out the long-range forecast is showing a stronger, but closer to the coast, storm forming up around Thursday (April 26), possibly coming in at a halfway decent swell direction (WNW-NW 285-300), which would have a boost of chest-shoulder energy arriving over the weekend…maybe even bigger if the storm really performs. Keep in mind that since we are in a transitional period of the seasons (winter-spring) I don’t put a lot of faith in the extremely long-range charts…so while it would be nice to have some combo energy moving in over the next weekend (April 28-30) I am not holding my breath waiting for a lot of NPAC energy till we get closer and this sucker actually forms.

***

And here I was, like many others, licking my chops @ perhaps an early kick-off.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:22 pm
by rlown
I've never "surfed" the Tioga road before, but I can say with the snow depth at the Tioga Entry Station at 53", they don't have to run the bulldozer first to head off the snowpack. The plow is fine at the current depth to just push through. Even if we get another storm, it's really quick for them to clear the mess even if it's up to a foot.

I'm betting on Mid May for them to clear the Tioga plus the side roads for the opener.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:25 pm
by Hobbes
rlown wrote:I'm betting on Mid May for them to clear the Tioga plus the side roads for the opener.
Let us pray. I'm toying with the idea of blowing over Forester in a quick 3 day trip from OV to Shepherd on Memorial weekend. You know, just to get the old legs a movin'. If there's enough people out, there should be a fairly good trail through the snow over the pass.

If it's still too heavy, I'll put it off a week or so, but I sort of like the idea of a quick sprint just to get away from the gray May/June gloom that plagues the SoCal coast in spring.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:19 pm
by maverick
Glacier Point Road opened 4/20/12, that is the earliest opening on record (since 1995)
hopefully it will translates to an early Tioga opening too!

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:30 pm
by rlown
same link as in the basenote. They're at Olmstead point now. I'm assuming they're coming from the other side as well, so with only 45" at the Tioga entry station it should be quick unless this weeks storm stops them for a bit.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:53 am
by Wandering Daisy
I just returned from a trip in Yosemite. Even though Glacier Point road is open, the snow on the ground is not easy walking. This year, most of the snow is new snow, very wet and heavy, and unlike consolidated old snow, it is post-holeing conditions. So if Tioga opens, hiking on the snow may be very slow.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:20 pm
by RoguePhotonic
I think after not doing any post holing at all for the whole season last year and complaining about the slippery hard snow I will be crying for it as I spend miles sinking into snow in early June.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:01 pm
by rlown
same link as the basenote:
Last update: April 26, 2012
Tioga Road: The Tioga Road has been plowed, but much work remains, including significant road repairs and rock removal, along with plowing of parking lots, side roads, and clearing of ditches. There is no estimated opening date for the Tioga Road.

Re: 2012 Tioga plow update

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:36 pm
by maverick
April 29th is the earliest opening, so that record will not be beat.