High Sierra Topix

Just spoke to a friend who is a ranger in the Lake Tahoe area. He says that on south facing slopes, the snow level is up above 8,000 feet. more like 8,500 feet. That's amazing for March. Of course, north faces are another matter. But still...

balzaccom wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:37 pm Just spoke to a friend who is a ranger in the Lake Tahoe area. He says that on south facing slopes, the snow level is up above 8,000 feet. more like 8,500 feet. That's amazing for March. Of course, north faces are another matter. But still...

Your friend is wrong. Check the ski resort webcams, satellite images.

Edit: Or check the Sierra Avy observation from today on the south side of Mt Judah.

https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/o ... 0/mt-judah

We may just be talking about different locations. He's in South Tahoe, and is both a ski patrol and ranger. He was walking at 7500 feet with no snow when he spoke to me, and was looking up at the snowline

balzaccom wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:55 pm We may just be talking about different locations. He's in South Tahoe, and is both a ski patrol and ranger. He was walking at 7500 feet with no snow when he spoke to me, and was looking up at the snowline

Maybe on the east shore the snow line is that high? On a steep SW aspect bare of trees that has a chance to be true. Mt Rose almost never has snow year round for this reason. But even the Little Valley SNOTEL sensor at 6510' on the east shore has 9 inches of snow. Finding some rocks at 7500' to stand on with no snow doesn't mean the snow line is at 7500'.

It's late March, the snow pack is as fat as it's going to get. You sure your friend isn't down in the Whitney zone where that would actually be true?

He's based in Myers. Not sure where he was hiking. He also noted that the ground is quite dry---not saturated. So we can expect less runoff than normal, and the melting snow sinks into the ground...

C9 is right, the snow levels on the south and west shores are way below 8K.
Even at lake level the overnight lows have been in the mid 20s, daytime highs, low-mid 40s.
So what little snow we got is still lingering.
But if the forecasts are to be believed, that's going to change starting later next week.

Here's some data:

Fallen Leaf (473)
California SNOTEL Site - 6242 ft
Snow Depth (in) 8 2021-03-27

Rubicon #2 (724)
California SNOTEL Site - 7619 ft
Snow Depth (in) 45 2021-03-27

Echo Peak (463)
California SNOTEL Site - 7653 ft
Snow Depth (in) 68 2021-03-27

Heavenly Valley (518)
California SNOTEL Site - 8534 ft
Snow Depth (in) 49 2021-03-27

Squaw Valley G.c. (784)
California SNOTEL Site - 8013 ft
Snow Depth (in) 63 2021-03-27

Ward Creek #3 (848)
California SNOTEL Site - 6745 ft
Snow Depth (in) 70 2021-03-27

Walking my dog out my backyard in Alpine Meadows today (3/27/21). The snow we're hiking on is about about 6,700ft on a NE slope and the view in the back is the south side of KT-22 / Snow King.

And here's a view from skinning north along a ridge at 7,900ft in Alpine Meadows on 3/24/21. I pan towards the west; everything across the valley is S-SE aspects.

This from the Tuolumne Meadow Winter rangers. Note the last sentence

Ski Conditions and Weather
It was warm and dry in the Yosemite high country this week. The sound of wind has been replaced by the sound of running water. The Tuolumne River is opening up fast and snow depths are shrinking. Although our snow stake still shows 33 inches at our weather plot, more bare ground is appearing daily. South aspects below 9,000 feet are now mostly snow free.