Snow Pack - Annual Comparison

[hansenb25]

Just thought I would post this graphic to those looking for comparison in snow pack years. Thought it might be helpful for trip planning based on historical trip reports.

[c9h13no3]

This is the whole state of California? Or the Sierra?

[Wandering Daisy]

Regional comparison charts like this are very informative, however, unless the regions are specifically the high Sierra (not including the foothills) they can be deceptive regarding backpacking conditions in the early season. Just because the chart says snow is melted by a certain date, there still will be snowpack up high on north facing aspects, especially this year since all of last year's snow may not have melted before the new snow fell on top of it.

I do like the way the chart was presented- easy to see all years at once. I suspect the graphs are from CDEC data, with superimposed color showing wetter to drier years, perhaps from a different source. Probably combined north, central and southern Sierra.

I get my reality check by looking at the Mammoth Mountain Ski area web-cam. The snow we just got this weekend has already melted off Yosemite Valley rims, but Mammoth Mountain is open, skiing looks great, and snow in distance in the Sierra still looks like winter.

[hansenb25]

I agree completely with you Wandering Daisy. Like you I like the way it was presented, together using Sentinel and other resources together maybe it helps.

Obviously temps in May and June are another huge factor as to things opening up.

"The California Department of Water Resources tracks the snow water equivalent in the Sierra using a network of 130 electronic sensors. The system went online in 1990s and began producing daily data in the early 2000s. Before that, officials relied on monthly snow surveys to measure the snowpack.

This graphic plots a 20-year history of the Sierra snowpack, showing wet years interspersed with severe droughts."
The data were provided by Katherine Hegewisch and John Abatzoglou of the Applied Climate Science Lab at UC Merced.

[texan]

Regional comparison charts like this are very informative, however, unless the regions are specifically the high Sierra (not including the foothills) they can be deceptive regarding backpacking conditions in the early season. Just because the chart says snow is melted by a certain date, there still will be snowpack up high on north facing aspects, especially this year since all of last year's snow may not have melted before the new snow fell on top of it.

I do like the way the chart was presented- easy to see all years at once. I suspect the graphs are from CDEC data, with superimposed color showing wetter to drier years, perhaps from a different source. Probably combined north, central and southern Sierra.

I get my reality check by looking at the Mammoth Mountain Ski area web-cam. The snow we just got this weekend has already melted off Yosemite Valley rims, but Mammoth Mountain is open, skiing looks great, and snow in distance in the Sierra still looks like winter.

My reality checks is looking at Mammoth webcam and Mineral King webcam to see what the conditions are really like. I also check yosemite website for Tioga Pass road opening and they tell you how much snow per year so you get an idea. Like last year was 244 percent of average and this year they haven't posted it yet, but its a normal year so it should be right around right around 100 percent.

Texan

[Justin-T]

This page has some useful rain & snow data for Cal, you can watch the (Statewide) snowpack rise and fall. I think this page showed a peak at 110% and you can see its declining at about the average rate so far.

https://cww.water.ca.gov

[creekfeet]

One thing I feel tends to get overlooked when evaluating how snowpack will affect backpacking is the rate at which it melts. For instance, I worked in SEKI in both 2011 and 2017, and both years had near identical snowpack on April 1. However, in 2011 multiple storms hit in May, and it was an unseasonably cool early summer and spring. As a result there was still snow on the ground in Lodgepole, elevation 6,700 feet, into late July! This worked out well for me as my shitty gov't house didn't have a working refrigerator, thus I relied on snowpacked coolers to keep my food relatively fresh.
By comparison 2017 was a scorching hot year, and when I arrived to start my season in mid-June, there wasn't a single patch of snow in Lodgepole to be seen.