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Webcam shots

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:07 pm
by RoguePhotonic
Last year I posted some comparison shots in webcams showing snow levels. 2012 was an amazingly low snow year but the shots from this year make it looks even worse:

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Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:10 pm
by rlown
It's really worse. plan your water people.

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:21 pm
by maverick
Tiulare, Kings, and Fresno Country declared disaster areas: http://sierra2thesea.net/agriculture/us ... to-drought" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:04 pm
by The hermit
Ive been thinking its been way to dry this season(we only had one really good storm,around xmas). I had no idea how bad it was. Was hoping for a wet spring,that hope is fading fast. My usual fall trip may be impractical. What about the ferry @ edison? I seem to recall they used that water to refill shaver last year,shutting down the ferry way early

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:08 pm
by Shawn
Sad deal for sure.

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Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:08 am
by RoguePhotonic
I forgot about the VVR Ferry. That sucked not having it. I am going to have to adjust my plans based on it. Poor Jim was hurting last year from the lost business.

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:16 am
by sparky
Wow. This is disheartening!

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:14 am
by paul
Well, the interesting thing is that the snow surveys and sensors tell a somewhat different story. Currently the snowpack is slightly ahead of last year's at the same point, for all sections (north,middle, south) of the Sierra. At higher elevation, and particularly between Yosemite and Tahoe, things are more ahead of last year, while at lower elevations, there's less snow than last year.
How much snow falls in the next 6 weeks is going to be the determining factor.

Daily regional snow plots:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/PLOT_SWC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

remote sensors:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/getAll?sens_num=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PS- a little research shows that the snow surveys for Mineral king show more snow there this year than last year (measured start of March), and there had been a significant snowfall on the 18th/19th in that area in 2012

Here's march 14, 2012 at mineral king:

http://mk-webcam.net/archives/B201203141458.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:51 am
by Troutdog 59
Need to be careful looking at photos as they can be decieving. We had some storms in March last year beleive it or not. Look at March 10th of 2012 and its pretty similar. Less this year, but not by much and this is not real high in elevation (~7,800'). Not saying this year will be better or worse, just that its been warm of late here in the Central Valley, which is melting snow at lower elevations.

Re: Webcam shots

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:01 pm
by John Dittli
We'll be heading out on snow surveys again in the next couple of days. But I can say that the pack this year is quickly approaching that of last and IF the warm spring continues will drop below last years just as fast.

What is different this year is that most all the snow came in December. After that, due to cold temps and low sun angle, there was not much lost during the winter months, so the pack remained relatively static. The exception to that, is the south facing slopes as shown in the Mineral King webcam. From what I've seen out there this winter, a lot of the south slopes have been cooked dry after months of sun.

If this trend continues, like a few years ago (don't remember which year), this summer the south slopes will be exceptionally dry.

Here's the current graph showing this years trend compared to last, wet, and dry,
Screen Shot 2013-03-22 at 11.57.35 AM.png
Since the courses we measure aren't south facing, the graphs will not show the loss of snow on those slopes.