High Sierra Topix

Did the Sabrina Basin the second week of June 2009. Hungry Packer froze overnight and partially thawed during the day. The lower elevation basin lakes were ice free. I doubt you'd find any open water at that altitude in May.

Pics here:
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Rich, the woman in the SEKI permit office told me this morning that they are pretty much as in the dark as we are regarding snow conditions and road openings. She gave me the number for the Forest Service (559-338-2251) to inquire about when the Big Meadows Road might open and said that CalTrans may also have information.

CDEC snow water content for Rowell Meadow looks to be about the same as 2008, a bit higher than 2009, much higher than 2007 (this was a year for very early thawing lakes in the southern Sierra), but significantly lower than 2005 and 2006. I think the bigger issue in terms of access will be the road opening. It would be neat if SEKI had a page showing historical opening and closing dates of park roads similar to Yosemite's page displaying when Tioga Pass Road has opened each year.

For what it's worth - not an expert - but I assisted with the April surveys at both Rowell and Big Meadow, and I have to point out that the data may be suspect (I am not assisting on the May survey). The April conditions at those locations were pretty bad. We couldn't get cores at many of the course locations. But the pack looked excellent, just couldn't seem to get the probe to cooperate in confirming that. Horse Corral had better conditions. Might look there instead and adjust accordingly.

The surveys are not an exact science. Although there is a multi-agency/academic effort currently working to improve it.

For whats its worth, gary c, forgive me being a technician type, but I see that the reading for Tunnel Meadow is snow water content, not snow water depth, as it is @Casa Vieja Meadows. As I look at the current temperature at both stations, the temperature at Casa is 20 degrees cooler than Tunnel. If the instruments are accurate, I think those temperatures explain alot of the difference in snow. The sensor at Tunnel is placed in a warmer area, where snow melts faster.
On the monthly snow reports, Ramshaw Meadows on April 26 had snow depth of 25.5 inches, and 11.6 snow water content. If I go back to earlier readings on Tunnel, on 4/26, it had 10-11 inches snow water content. Ramshaw is right around the corner from Tunnel, so this tells me that that the sensors are probably accurate because the snow water content readings for both stations was about the same on April 26th. That area today looks like it has almost no snow left. Anyway, that is probably way too much detail, sorry....like I said, technician type...

richlong8, it's been a week and I believe the snow depth was listed when first I posted the above. Looking at the site now I would agree there does not appear to be much if any snow at the Tunnel location. That is kind of what I was talking about when I wrote that exposure makes all the difference. Casa Vieja Meadows is rather narrow with tall mountains shading and protecting it compared to Tunnel Meadows.