[pct-l] Weird winter, yup; oh yes!

[calliger@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Richard)]

Same storm coming to the Sierra Neveda! It rained (2") and saturated
the snow at 8500' last week. (Only precip we got in Jan so far!)

PE will "do us in"- 95% of the 8 feet of snow we had at 6500
is gone gone gone! We dont usually see the rocks till May, but
they is here already!

Rich


At 01:32 AM 1/30/03 EST, CMountainDave@aol.com wrote:
>Been perusing the snotel readings here in WA. 42* and heavy rain at 5000' in
>Olympics the other day. 40 " snow vs normal 72'' this time of year
>  Hydrologist on news other day said snow pack between 3000-6000 feet is
>saturated due to heavy rains and will melt out quickly this spring
>  I am betting that the snow pack drops 5 feet in May at the Snotel spots. It
>will be interesting to be able to see the actual results on a day by day
>basis to see if I need to adjust my thinking about snowmelt rate. (2" a day
>in May, 3 in June.)
>   I worry about what a "Pineapple Express" could do.  The P.E. can raise the
>freezing level to 7000'- 8000' and dump approximately 15 inches of rain
>(carried by the tropical air from Hawaii) over a 3 day period. (on south and
>west slopes of the Cascades/Olympics.) Normally the snowpack is not saturated
>this time of year and it absorbs much of that 15 inches, keeping floods from
>getting out of hand. This year the entire amount might make it to the creeks
>causing trail and bridge washouts.
>  Wrote this this morning and now I hear a PE is exactly what is about to
>happen  tomorrow and Fri. Stay Tuned! (7000' snow level)
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