sparky wrote:I went to

scroll down a bit, click to animate whatever day you want or the past two weeks. It will only show <1". Again this info may not be correct, but even 5am monday conflicts with 12" on the evening of the 20th.
going over that link....the numbers seems a little odd? not more than an inch?
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See where you got that info, very crude using a large scale map that must use CDEC remote sensors then extrapolated over areas. There was no 12 inches on the evening of the 20th but rather the 21st. Wherever that came from is a mistake likely meant the next day. The storm had just reached the San Jose area where I live at sunset on the 20th so was still hours from the Sierra.
SNOW WC means "snow water content". Given the temperature and snow level one inch may be about 10 to 12 inches of snow. Ignore the hour to hour small differences as that is the nature of the sensor. It looks like some brief intermittent snow showers occured as early as 3am and then at 6am sunrise was probably constant. Might be a half hour delay 10 miles down the crest. That also supports what QS15 posted. 2>3 inches of snow that had fallen 5am to 8am would not have prevented a healthy person in hiking boots determined to escape at dawn 3 or 4 miles from the pass unless their clothing was inadequate or visibility due to cloud level shrouded the pass densely. Of course the majority of that zone is a further distance. But then if he had been too far away, the fact there has been no signs, no tracks, is a strong argument for an injury or sucumbing to exposure.
Date / Time SNOW WC SNOW DP TEMP BAT VOL
(PDT) INCHES INCHES DEG F VOLTS
10/22/2012 00:00 0.05 0 28 12.6
10/22/2012 01:00 0.04 0 27 12.6
10/22/2012 02:00 0.04 -2 25 12.6
10/22/2012 03:00 0.07 -8 N 24 12.5
10/22/2012 04:00 0.10 -7 N 24 12.5
10/22/2012 05:00 0.12 -10 N 21 12.5
10/22/2012 06:00 0.15 -10 N 22 12.5
10/22/2012 07:00 0.21 -6 N 23 12.5
10/22/2012 08:00 0.35 70 21 12.4
10/22/2012 09:00 0.43 3 21 12.5
10/22/2012 10:00 0.48 3 23 12.6
10/22/2012 11:00 0.55 -4 N 24 12.9
10/22/2012 12:00 0.60 3 25 13.0
10/22/2012 13:00 0.70 4 25 13.3
10/22/2012 14:00 0.83 3 26 13.2
10/22/2012 15:00 0.92 2 25 13.3
10/22/2012 16:00 1.03 3 24 13.2
10/22/2012 17:00 0.92 85 21 13.2
10/22/2012 18:00 0.94 2 21