[pct-l] lingering snow

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Robo hiker wrote:
>
mmmmm....... seems like there's alot of snow out there, more than usual according to alot of folks from the north to the south. i found this graph that says it's only approaching a " normal year ".
what should i believe and when should, if i should, alter planning?
graph ->   http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/PLOT_SWC.2008.pdf
>

I don't know about California but in Washington and Oregon we are having a rousing good year, as can be seen from http://www.nwac.us/products/CLISNO.  In most places the snow depth is a lot closer to the all-time record than it is to the average; in some places like White Pass it has in fact set a new all-time record.  This table reflects conditions as of Feb. 1st; there's been more snow since then and it looks like it's going to continue throughout this week.

Also be aware that the California plot shows _water content_ of the snowpack while the Washington table shows _depth_ of the snowpack.  Those two aren't exactly the same thing.  Snow depth can actually decrease without any melting as the snow settles and consolidates, as happened here over the weekend.

As for altering planning - the one fact you can count on is that the weather could do any number of wildly unpredictable things between now and the start of the thru season.  It's far too early to make any drastic decisions.  We could have a "Pineapple Express" blow through next week and melt all of our lovely powder.  Alternately, we could have some huge system drop down from Alaska and dump another six feet of snow.  Impossible to say.

By the way, I took my kids snowshoeing yesterday at Snoqualmie Pass and it was a blast!

Eric