From the “weather is not climate” department: All of the western states have snowpacks that are currently 110 to over 180 percent above normal with the exception of southern Colorado. This is unusual for most of the western states to be so far ahead on snowpack all at the same time rather than from one or two states.
And, according to the Squaw Valley Snow Tracker:
Squaw Valley has just reached over 700″ of total snow accumulation– something that has never happened in Squaw Valley’s recorded history.
Squaw Valley opened in 1949.
And in the context shown above, here’s a pertinent reminder of alarmism past:
“…there is no greater truth than global warming, with its threat of a shrinking snowpack…”
That is from this article in the San Francisco Chronicle in October of 2006.
(10-27-2006) 04:00 PDT Norden, Nevada County — For the ski industry, both in California and rest of the nation, there is no greater truth than global warming, with its threat of a shrinking snowpack and the point that Yogi Berra once made so succinctly: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
…
If nothing is done to curb emissions, greenhouse gas emissions could raise Sierra temperatures another 5 or 6 degrees by the end of the 21st century, according to some projections. The snowpack could be reduced by 89 percent.
Sources:
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/westwide/snowpack/wy2011/snow1105.gif
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/cgibin/ms.pl
h/t to reader “MM”
UPDATE: Reader Kelly Morris brings this snow water equivalent map to our attention:
To Jay Curtis: Everything was totally white (like the Arctic) from Buffalo, NY on west to Milwaukee. If all that snow pack hasn’t contributed to the recent flooding in the Mississippi drainage, I don’t know what else would have.
Actually, all that snowpack went into the Great Lakes and on over Niagara Falls and ulimately into the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Minor quibble.
All this monstrous snowpack, however, will eventually be going into the Missouri River Basin, rapidly overwhelming their reservoirs, and ultimately surging into the Mississippi. This will not likely cause new high crests, but will cause the recession of the floodwaters to be painfully slow. In fact, historically high flood levels could plague the lower Mississippi well into the Atlantic hurricane season. And a tropical storm coming ashore anywhere in the Mississippi tributary system while historically high flood waters persist could be a catastrophe of literally biblical proportions.
A Montana hydrologist a couple of weeks ago was predicting a “sensational” spring run-off. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011105070302 And the snowpack has been growing since that prediction on May 6. When the weather, as it must, turns in the northern Rockies, many communities along the Yellowstone, the Missouri, and other rivers will probably be scampering for emergency shelters, just like those in Mississippi and Lousiana are as we speak.
Oops. Forgot a link, so I’ve “revised and extended” my earlier post:
To Jay Curtis: Everything was totally white (like the Arctic) from Buffalo, NY on west to Milwaukee. If all that snow pack hasn’t contributed to the recent flooding in the Mississippi drainage, I don’t know what else would have.
Actually, all that snowpack went into the Great Lakes and on over Niagara Falls and ulimately into the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Minor quibble.
This snowpack(http://www.mt.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/data/comparison.html), however, will eventually be going into the Missouri River Basin, rapidly overwhelming their reservoirs, and ultimately surging into the Mississippi. This will not likely cause new high crests, but will cause the recession of the floodwaters to be painfully slow. In fact, historically high flood levels could plague the lower Mississippi well into the Atlantic hurricane season. And a tropical storm coming ashore anywhere in the Mississippi tributary system while historically high flood waters persist could be a catastrophe of literally biblical proportions.
A Montana hydrologist a couple of weeks ago was predicting a “sensational” spring run-off. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011105070302 And the snowpack has been growing since that prediction on May 6. When the weather, as it must, turns in the northern Rockies, many communities along the Yellowstone, the Missouri, and other rivers will probably be scampering for emergency shelters, just like those in Mississippi and Lousiana are as we speak.
A Montana hydrologist a couple of weeks ago was predicting a “sensational” spring run-off. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011105070302 And the snowpack has been growing since that prediction on May 6. When the weather, as it must, turns in the northern Rockies, many communities along the Yellowstone, the Missouri, and other rivers will probably be scampering for emergency shelters, just like those in Mississippi and Lousiana are as we speak.
This will not likely increase the ultimate flood depth, but it will very likely painfully prolong the recession of the floods — well into huricane season. I’m betting the Corps of Engineers general and the Mississippi River Commission have an industrial size bottle of Tums on their desks.
I was in Wyoming a couple of years ago. Driving north out of Jackson on 191 you suddenly see the Tetton Range in all its snowy sparkly glory. The greatest view on a wonderful holiday.
Driving through Yellowstone we were amazed to see the roadside snow poles 20 ft. high, as well as snow banks in excess of 20 ft high. Browsing marks 60 ft up the trunks of lodgepole pines.
Yep, you do get some snow in the NW. Looks like you will have to get used to more.
Happy skiing.