[pct-l] Snow depth telemetry stations for CA-PCT and Alpine Sierra

[losthiker at sisqtel.net (Deems)]

Here's some more Sierra Alpine snotel stations I found today using Marks' great info. 
It's set up as a map, zoom in and walk north from Whitney up to Lassen and beyond to see the 
alpine stations. You can also go south from Whitney. Click, and see the stations and info. 
Some only show the water content in inches.  A simple wag factor I saw for the Sonora pass 
station is multiply the water inches by 4 or 5 to see the actual snowdepth.  "Wag" stands for
'wild ass guess'.. Credit due to the California Department of Water Resources and your state taxes. 
This will be one of the big PCT snow years that the thruhikers will talk about for years, and will definitely
influence success. A greater wilderness skill level will be needed to succeed, and planning will require 
knowing your snow travel, route finding, and survival skills.  

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/mapper?level=1&map=32   California/Sierra snotel station info map 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Deems 
To: pct 
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 8:19 PM
Subject: Snow depth telemetry stations for CA, OR, WA


 I found a link tonight on the CDT-L chatroom that led to a Montana Snotel site
 placed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service USDA, and that led me 
 to the California, Oregon and Washington snow telemetry stations. There's a lot of 
 snow in the northern part of the Sierra, and avg or less amounts in the Cascades.  
The website maps have the stations you can click on or use the pop down list for each 
state's stations to see the current snowdepth and water content.   The coverage isn't 
complete for the PCT, and I know I've seen stations in the alpine areas of the John Muir Wilderness,
but I don't see them on these lists.  It's almost like being up there on the trail when accessing your 
federally funded snotel stations.  

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/California/california.html          California snotel sites
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Oregon/oregon.html                 Oregon snotel sites  
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Washington/washington.html    Washington snotel sites