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

[brandt at snf.stanford.edu (Karl Brandt)]

That's a pretty bold projection of the snow data for so early a date. 1997
had more snow on the ground on this date that there is now but turned out
to be a very average year when it came thru-hiking season. 1995 was below
average at this date and almost none of the thru-hikers made it through
the Sierras on a continuous hike from Campo. 

The date that the snow clears the trail varies a lot depending on the
spring weather conditions. There's no way to tell yet what that might be
like. 

It'll be at least mid-March before you can make predictions with much
accuracy about how much snow will be on the trail in June. There's a
couple few folks on the list who make their yearly prognostications April
1st. There's darn good reason they wait until then.

On the other hand, you might be dead on. I just don't think we can tell
what the snow conditions will be like yet.

-Karl

*********************************************************************
Karl "Birdman" Brandt PCT97 LT98                    
http://people.ucsc.edu/~kbrandt/

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005, Deems wrote:

> 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
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