northern cal snow reports

[111]

I was wondering if the trinity alps wilderness is backpackable this time of year. by backpackable i mean I hope to not have to bring snow shoes for main trail systems. maybe if you could just give me a snow elevation on the whole area that would be great. If you know any websites which give condition reports for wilderness areas I'd be much obliged. peace.e

[rhyang]

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/shastatrinity/contact

 

Probably the Weaverville or Big Bar ranger stations are your best bet, but the higher elevations hold snow fairly late in the season. I wouldn't plan anything there until June at least.

[furnace]

i was in the trinity's last month and snow on the trail started at around 4000-ft. still, got to canyon creek lakes (5600') with snowshoes on my pack 'cos i'm too lazy to stop + put them on. did use them for the slog up toward thompson though.

 

cdec has snow pillows in the area, see:

 

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snow/current/snow/pillowplots/Trinity.html

 

cdec site is good for a general overview of:

snow accumulation (click water content graph) -and-

temperatures (click sensor name, then "temp", then the resulting graph for 10-day view).

 

the big flat sensor is at the trailhead that goes to caribou.

 

i think the big bar ranger station is closed right now. and the rangers in weaverville usually cannot even pronounce local place-names, let alone give you good conditions info. seriously.

[jibmaster]

Tons of snow in the coast range right now. furnace is correct in that the rangers don't know shit about their local mountains. These people never leave the office.

 

right now you can drive to 4000' -5000'. Any roads that have a north facing aspect at those levels will be snow-packed. South facing roads will be open. The north sides of the upper mountains still have 5-10 feet of snow with drifts up to 20 feet deep.

[jibmaster]

[jibmaster]

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA

315 PM PDT THU APR 7 2005

 

.SYNOPSIS...A COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL ARRIVE FRI MORNING AND

BRING RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW TO THE REGION THROUGH FRI NIGHT.

SHOWERS WILL LINGER THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. A BRIEF PERIOD OF HIGH

PRESSURE AND DRY WEATHER WILL FOLLOW THROUGH SUNDAY...BEFORE ANOTHER

FRONT AFFECTS THE N COAST SUN NIGHT. THE EXTENDED PERIOD WILL REMAIN

UNSETTLED AS AN ACTIVE JET STREAM PERSISTS OVER THE PACIFIC.

 

&&

 

.DISCUSSION...SCATTERED SHOWERS CONTINUE TO WIND DOWN THIS

AFTERNOON...WITH A FEW BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS EVIDENT ON SAT IMAGERY

AND LOCAL OBS. A GOOD 1-2 INCHES OF RAIN FELL WITH THIS SYSTEM. SOME

ISOLATED ACTIVITY LIKELY TO PERSIST THROUGH THE EVENING...BUT

OTHERWISE SOME CLEARING IS LIKELY OVERNIGHT BEFORE NEXT SYSTEM COMES

IN.

 

NEXT SYSTEM IS TAKING SHAPE NICELY ON WV IMAGERY APPROACHING 45N

140W. THIS SYSTEM HAS A GOOD NW TRAJECTORY AND IS SUPPORTED BY A 140

KT JET AIMED AT THE ORCA BORDER FRI MORNING. SAT DERIVED WINDS

SHOWED JET WINDS AT 150-180 KTS THROUGH THIS MORNING...A BIT

STRONGER THAN PROGS.

 

PARTIAL CLEARING SHOULD HELP BRING DOWN SNOW LEVELS A BIT

OVERNIGHT...AND PRIME EASTERN TRINITY COUNTY FOR SOME RELATIVELY LOW

ELEVATION SNOWFALL FRIDAY MORNING. A BIT HARD TO PIN DOWN CURRENT

LEVELS AS RAWS OBS SHOW A PRETTY WIDE VARIATION INDEPENDENT OF

ELEVATION. LATEST MESOSCALE MODELS ARE RUNNING A TAD COLDER

THOUGH...SO WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO GET SOME EARLY VALLEY SNOW

REPORTS FRIDAY MORNING. SPOTTERS THIS MORNING REPORTED ACCUMULATING

SNOW AS LOW AS 2800 FEET IN WESTERN TRINITY COUNTY. MOST OF THE WARM

ADVECTION SHOULD BE CONFINED TO COASTAL SIDE OF THE RANGES ON

FRIDAY...ALONG WITH THE HEAVIEST QPF. MESOSCALE PROGS BRING OVER 2

INCHES TO NORTHERN PORTIONS OF OUR CWA...AS A SECOND ROUND OF

MODERATE PRECIP FALLS IN A POST FRONTAL WAVE THAT MOVES THROUGH

NW FLOW LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. WILL BE TOUGH TO VERIFY OVER RURAL AREAS

OF THE SISKIYOUS AND SMITH RIVER AREA...BUT OVER A FOOT OF SNOW

LOOKS POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHEST TERRAIN. COMPROMISED THESE HIGHER

AMOUNTS TO COORDINATE WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES AND ON ACCOUNT OF

SNOW LEVELS THAT MAY BRIEFLY RISE TO OUR SNOW FORECAST CUTOFF OF

4000 FEET FOR THE N COAST INTERIOR. MESOETA AND MM5 CONFINE POST

FRONTAL PRECIP TO THE N COASTAL RANGES. THIS LOOKS REASONABLE GIVEN

THE OROGRAPHY SO EXTENDED ADVISORY FOR N COAST INTERIOR THROUGH SAT

MORNING WHILE ENDING TRINITY ADVISORY FRI EVE.

 

MODELS HAVE BEEN TRENDING COOLER AND WETTER FOR THE EXTENDED

PERIOD...BUT NO SIGNIFICANT EVENT ON THE HORIZON. SHORTWAVES LOOK TO

IMPACT THE AREA SUN NIGHT AND AGAIN ON TUES MORNING...BUT WITH

TIMING UNCERTAINTIES HAVE MAINTAINED A CHANCE OF PRECIP FOR THE

NORTHERN ZONES AND SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THE SOUTH THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF

NEXT WEEK.

&&

 

EKA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

 

 

SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 3000 FEET CAZ004 FRIDAY AND CAZ003 FRIDAY

THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WIND AND HAZARDOUS SEAS PT ST GEORGE TO PT

ARENA OUT 60NM.