snow on PCT around Mount Ashland

[jeannette]

I am contemplating hiking the PCT in Northern California starting at Gumboot Lake and ending at around Callahans. I wish to do it snow free and most people in Northern California think it should be snow free there by June. I anticipate starting around mid June and ending at Callahans at the end of June. I know it depends a lot on May weather, but would you think it would be snow free by that time in Oregon around Mount Ashland. I regularly study the PCT snow analysis map, so I am keeping track. Thanks!

[adamschneider]

Last year Mt. Ashland was definitely snow-free by the end of June. This year... hard to say. There IS a little more snow on the Siskiyou Crest than there was last year at this time.

If I were you, I'd use the NOHRSC snow map and flip back and forth between last year and this year.

FYI, though: the PCT through the Salmon Mountains will probably have snow on it well into June, at least where it faces north or northeast. I took this photo on the PCT on 6/22/20, above Taylor Lake:

...and that was a LOW snow year as of May 4.

[jeannette]

What is the chance that snow will be in the Salmon Mountains at the end of June? I realize that is hard to predict as we don't know the weather between now and then.