High Sierra Topix

lake ediza temps yesterday were showing subzero temps(as in -1 degrees) at 11 am on nws site ...i couldnt believe it.I was thinking about doing a meetup backpack to the mammoth area this weekend but i dont know with my 20deg bag !!!

Temps for Ediza are supposed rebound into the mid 30's for the low's and mid 50's for
the high's, so you'll be alright with your bag DAVELA.

A friend and several companions backpacked to Young Lakes this past weekend. They awoke on Sunday to several inches of snow. She was a little concerned when it began to snow in earnest Saturday night but it was clear in the morning. The trail was covered but they were able to follow its general track back to Tioga Road. My friend had a zero bag so was okay. Her friends were colder in their 35 degree bags but they had a good time nonetheless. There were a few other groups in the area and one of the them told my friend that they followed their tracks in the snow on the way back out (and were grateful for the tracks).

I talked to a few campers at Lodgepole Sunday and they said there was sleet Saturday night. One group had camped at Mineral King Saturday and they said they got absolutely drenched. Also, there were still lots of patches of snow on the trail between Wolverton and Alta Peak.

I'm very glad I got shut out of Lodgepole Saturday night and spent the evening in a nice warm hotel room!

If I had known it was going to be so bad when I left SEKI Sat night I would have said something about the kids I saw on the HST, but hindsight is 20/20.

DAVELA wrote:lake ediza temps yesterday were showing subzero temps(as in -1 degrees) at 11 am on nws site ...i couldnt believe it.I was thinking about doing a meetup backpack to the mammoth area this weekend but i dont know with my 20deg bag !!!

Are you indicating that Lake Ediza now has a remote weather station? I looked at the San Joaquin River basin sites at CDEC that if so doesn't show a new site.

Today's updated Reno NWS forecast is showing by Wednesday evening, snow down to 5000 feet in the Northern Sierra. Although they expect little moisture to go below I80, those areas are expected to be hammered by high winds, maybe 80 to 100 mph in Mono crest areas like atop Mammoth Mountain with ugly wind chill levels. If so that will undoubtedly remove some of the early color changed aspen leaves up at highest groves. More reason to skip any notion of driving to the east side this coming weekend and instead wait a few days beyond till mid grove areas start turning.

Note several years ago, a friend and I drove over to the east side about this time for some early leaf work and the coldest storm for this time of year in decades hit which was little snow but high winds. We disperse camped out near the Lundy Canyon entrance and by dawn temp was in single F digits. Later that morning we drove off on SR120 around Mono Craters and at one spot temp was -5F degrees. That ended up being maybe the lousiest fall leaf season in my lifetime as a lot of aspen leaves except at lowest elevations went from green to black.

sssdave:no,i was just going by the link given to me:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... kOrpFPCZyG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thanks maverick, for the 411!

The forecast looks good for the weekend for Kings Canyon and south. It'll be nice to get another short backpacking trip in finally.

[quote="DAVELA"]sssdave:no,i was just going by the link given to me:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... kOrpFPCZyG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So not Ediza but rather Tuolumne Meadows. Here is the real CDEC site for that remote station.

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

And here is a chart showing all the Sierra remote snow sensor stations, which also have temperature sensors among others:

http://www.cdec.water.ca.gov/misc/SnowSensors.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is fresh snow THIS AFTERNOON on the mountains between Independence and Bishop, and further north. Highly unusual for daytime snow in September!

I got snowed on Thursday, I had to stop at Charlotte Lake (I was planning on camping closer to Gardiner Pass). The place got about 2 inches. Most of it was gone by Sunday, with snow still remaining on North slopes and in thicker forests.