All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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Bosterson
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by Bosterson » April 2nd, 2018, 10:54 am

Nope, I put them on around 3200ish on the way up (at the road) and didn't take them off till around 2800ish on the way down (slushy, back in the forest). It's compacting a la spring, but not Cascade concrete yet. Very slushy on the way down.
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drm
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by drm » April 2nd, 2018, 1:02 pm

Panther Creek Road is open to Panther Creek Falls, but hits snow about 1.5 miles before Four Corners. We skied to Goose Lake to camp. The lake is still frozen over, but a couple sites were melted out. A vehicle that looked like an armored personnel carrier drove in and the driver told me it barely made it.

CMH
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by CMH » April 4th, 2018, 7:16 am

Nestor Peak (3,140 feet) has only a few remnants of snow left - none on the trail.
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IMG-0205 - Copy.JPG
Nestor Peak summit has a few patches of snow. Hood River and western neighborhoods of White Salmon in the distance.

Luke C
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by Luke C » April 16th, 2018, 12:04 pm

Bosterson wrote:
April 2nd, 2018, 9:01 am
On Saturday the snow was pretty deep at 4960 ft on the Oregon side.

Snow.jpg
Is this Mt Defiance? If so, what trail did you use? Isn't the starvation creek TH closed?

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retired jerry
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by retired jerry » April 16th, 2018, 12:10 pm

Highway 20 over Santiam Pass April 15

Snow level on east side 4000 feet - where patches of snow start to appear

Snow level on west side 2500 feet

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romann
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by romann » April 20th, 2018, 11:10 pm

Now that we likely reached the max snowpack, it's good time to take another look:
snotel map as of 4/19/2018. Many low elevation snotels (imho not really relevant) skew the data in regional reports; it helps to look at higher snotels in each area
- Mt. Hood snotel @ 5,370' 85%
- Mt. Hood at Mud Creek Ridge (pass level) @ 4,070' 108%
- Santiam Pass area (Hogg Pass snotel) @ 4,790' 54%
- Three Sisters (McKenzie Pass snotel) @ 4770' 75%
-------------------------------------------------------------------
- Mount St. Helens (Swift Creek snotel) @ 4,440' 141%
- Indian Heaven (Surprise Lakes snotel) @ 4,290' 114%
- Mt Adams north (Potato Hill) @ 4510' 148%
- Goat Rocks (Pigtail Peak) @ 5800' 108%
- Rainier (Paradise) @5130' 114%

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RobFromRedland
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by RobFromRedland » April 22nd, 2018, 6:09 am

What I have found interesting is that if you compare this years trend to the 30 year trend, most of the snotels are trending higher than the 30 year average. For example, here is the Mud Ridge comparison of this year to the 30 year average. As you can see for most of the year it was below normal (especially in February), but a few weeks ago, it crossed the average and while we should be in a melting stage, the snow pack actually increased:
MudRidge30YearAverage.png
It just shows how cold and wet this spring has been. This next week should melt out a lot of the snow, but things are going to be later than normal I'm sure. According to the 30 year average for that snotel, it typically melts out the last week of May, but I'm guessing this year it will be sometime in early to mid June.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW! What a ride! - Hunter S. Thompson

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retired jerry
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by retired jerry » April 22nd, 2018, 6:48 am

The blue lines are snow level (water equivalent) the red lines are precipitation

South of the state had much less snow and precip, Big Red Mountain near California border for example:

Image

It's about 40% of normal

Like Mud Ridge, there's been more snow late - it hasn't started falling yet which on average starts April 1

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Don Nelsen
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by Don Nelsen » April 24th, 2018, 8:47 am

No snow at all on the normal route up Table Mt.. Deep snow remains across the summit plateau between the top of the Heartbreak Ridge route and the top of the Westway Trail but it's a short distance and well packed down as of 4/23.

Also, on Washington's Larch Mt. no snow on the trails below 2,800' and spotty coverage in the open up to 3,000'. Deep snow beyond that.

The picnic table on 4/22 at 3,000':
Image

The view of the trail above the picnic table:
Image
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Aimless
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Re: All-New for 2018! A snow level thread.

Post by Aimless » April 24th, 2018, 8:03 pm

Today I hiked up the PCT northbound from Panther Creek campground on the WA side, above Carson. The first snow patches appeared at 3200 feet, about a mile beyond where the PCT crosses Road 68. Because that was also when I reached my turnaround time, I cannot say at what elevation the trail becomes fully snow bound. My guess would be between 3300 to 3400 feet.

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