Sunday, July 26, 2015

Evidence of Bad Snow Years

Snow is a pretty good integrator of past weather and climate, especially in those areas where it tends to linger late into the season.

We've had some bad snow years of late and it really shows when one looks at the views of the Wasatch from Snowbird. The photo below was taken this morning.  Nothing in the bowl below Pipeline and a few lingering patches elsewhere, including in upper Hogum (click to enlarge).


For a comparison, the photo below was taken on August 4th, 2013.  Still a patch in the bowl below the Pipeline, with patches in similar spots to the one above.  Nearly a dead heat, although the photo below was taken a week later.


In case you are wondering, 2012-13 was a 382.5" season (Nov-Apr) at Alta-Guard compared with 267.5" this year.  However, May-July of 2012-13 was about 2.5ºF warmer than this year, which had a cold, snowy May and a cool mid July, so the two years end up being almost even steven with perhaps 2014-15 running just a tad behind 2012-13 for lingering snow.

I suspect that linking turns is currently impossible in the central Wasatch.  Those of you who feel the need to ski, there's always the Timp "Glacier" (photo from Wednesday).


Will any of this snow survive until we begin to accumulate snow in the fall?

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