High Sierra Topix

Current snow pack.

That is good enough data for now. Now is the time to start planning summer backpacking trips.

Here is the link:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action

So if I'm reading this right, the sierra's are getting an average amount of snowfall at this point in the season?

You are reading that right. But I would not put much stock in it at this point. Until at least early April, since so much can change. You will note that when you look at things on the Dep. of Water Resources site, the April 1 average is what everything is compared to, as that is historically the maximum water content of the snowpack. And even after that, how warm or wet or snowy the last part of the spring is can make a big difference in how much snow you find up high in the summer. Plus this data is remote sensor data, less accurate than the manual surveys done at the end of each month.

Manual survey numbers are starting to come in now for end of January, and so far things look just about average, slightly above. It's a good start. Current forecasts call for pretty good snowfall in the mountains the next week or so.

Crap. Looks like it's well above average right now. My plan to do early June in the Belle Canyon/Sugarloaf areas is not looking good.

It’s dumping in Tahoe right now, with more on the way

Is it just me, or has the snowfall rate greatly reduced over the last few weeks? Its still way over normal levels at this point in the year based on the link above, but not as bad as I thought it would be.


Edit: how do current levels compare to the same time of year back in 2011 and 2017?

Dustybottoms21, I'm not sure if the rate has slowed as the last storm was pretty intense and this week it's still coming down.

A great post with a link to check out multiple years of snow water equivalent is:

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3791&p=144178#p143693

Also, there are older and newer posts in the thread with other links that offer a way to view data related to snow in the Sierra.

Enjoy!