High Sierra Topix

Looks like the weather is likely to improve in a couple of days. Hope things will be stabilized for snow survey crews! Ditli are you still doing that? Will crews delay a bit if necessary for safer travel conditions?

Looks like the weather is likely to improve in a couple of days. Hope things will be stabilized for snow survey crews! Ditli are you still doing that? Will crews delay a bit if necessary for safer travel conditions?

Have contacted John, requesting him to give us an update on the current conditions, including his opinion on what conditions can be expected for May, Jun, and July. This is something we request him to do each year Mike.

Stabilizing weather and fresh snow beginning to consolidate a bit making travel/mobility easier. I'm headed up tomorrow doing Bench Lake, State Lakes, Mitchell Meadow, Scenic Meadow, Rowell Meadow, and Horse Corral Meadow via helicopter. Will report back with some photos.

@ERIC Who does these snow surveys and how did you get the privilege of doing them?

The attachment is a little dated but still provides good background. I work for one of the cooperating agencies listed in Table 1. For the courses in our watershed who gets to go depends on a combination of politics, seniority, physical ability, interest, availability...and a bit of luck. Most commonly employees or board members of the cooperating agencies, but there have been some exceptions. I've been fortunate enough to have gone on nearly a dozen or surveys over the years. People like Dittli are in a class of their own.

Wow, that is quite a list of cooperating agencies.

Weather conditions were nearly ideal for us. So much snow... In the Kings we're over 200% of normal for the year and with just average precip going forward it'll be a 150% Water Year. Just beginning to go through video and photos. Will try to post more in the next day or two.

Thanks Eric, I think it would be great if you labeled the pics so we could know the sites.

I'll do my best. The first two are now labeled.

By the way, just found out another survey crew that went up this morning, in the same helicopter with the same pilot, had to emergency land following mechanical issues. Don't know yet exactly where they crashed but it was a high remote location and the landing was in powder. Nobody was injured. Now they just have to dig in and wait until morning for rescue.

By the way, just found out another survey crew that went up this morning, in the same helicopter with the same pilot, crash landed following mechanical issues. Don't know yet exactly where they crashed but it was a high remote location and the landing was in powder. Nobody was injured. Now they just have to dig in and wait until morning for rescue.

That must have been scary, glad to read that they are okay.