[pct-l] Tuolumne Meadows winter updat

[goslowgofar]

fyi...
   
  TUOLUMNE MEADOWS WINTER CONDITIONS UPDATE 
  February 28, 2007
  Weather: (February 20 through February 27)
  High temp: 46° (Feb 21 and 25)
  Low temp: -4° (Feb 24)
  New Snow: 55" (Feb 22, 24-27)
  Total settled snow depth: 56" as of February 28 
  Ski Conditions and Weather: Winter roared back to life this week, as 55 inches of new snow was dumped on this stretch of the Sierras. We received 81 inches of new snow in February here at the meadows, nearly twice as much as arrived in December and January combined. Currently, the new snow is rather bottomless, making travel difficult. The crew at Tioga Pass Resort does not plan to travel down the Lee Vining grade until tomorrow at the earliest, out of concern of increased avalanche danger due to all the new snow. We are in the process of completing the monthly snow surveys for this area; I suspect the results will show a greatly improved snow pack over last month’s, which was only about 45% of normal at the end of January. Once this new snow settles out, the skiing should be the best it has been all year. 
  Avalanche and Snowpack Conditions: For the latest avalanche advisory for this area go to www.esavalanche.org for the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center and click on advisory. The ESAC site is updated several times a week and more often during weather events. With all the new snow we’ve received in the past week, and the windy nature of the storms (120 mile per hour wind gusts were reported atop Mammoth Mountain to our south), extreme caution should be practiced by anyone considering travel through avalanche prone terrain.
  Wildlife: About the only wildlife we saw this stormy week in our limited amount of traveling were a few species of birds, including Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Red Crossbill, Steller’s Jay, and Clark’s Nutcracker.
  Questions: If you have any ski-related or weather questions feel free to call (209) 372-0203 or 8734 between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm. If we are out skiing, leave a message and a phone number so we can return your call. (Jeff and Kathi, the Tuolumne winter rangers) 

 
---------------------------------
Any questions?  Get answers on any topic at Yahoo! Answers. Try it now.