Last weekend, I took my familiy on a trip to see the Lava Beds National Monument (the kids had a great time exploring the lava tube caves) and also a stop at Crater Lake. Crater Lake happens to have a USHCN weather station, and it is one of the few stations that GISS excludes (they have an exclusion code for it in their software Mosher located some time ago). This is what the station looked like in fall 2007 when I visited:
And here it is was on May 29th, 2011, from approximately the same view:
My lovely wife, who is a better photographer than I am, (and lighter on her feet) took a hike to the top of the snow and got this photo:
Note the rain gauge on the stilt tripod and the tracks leading to it. That was placed there by park staff in an effort to catch May rains…except, it was snowing the day we were there. There is also a snowboard to catch fresh snowfall to the left of the tower.
Note the Stevenson screen has been elevated on the tower, here is a closeup:
Note the MMTS thermistor temperature shield on top of the Stevenson Screen (circular plates), an addition since 2007. It moves up and down the tower with the screen based on snow depth.
How much snow was there at the end of May? A closeup of the snowpole gives a value:
Snow depth on May 29th, 2011, just shy of 10 feet.
The posted weather statement in the visitor’s center is enlightening:
Snow depth, 213% of average. One wonders if it will melt before winter sets it.
Hello Anthony.
Thanks. You saved me a 4000 mile trip! (Almost).
Just two days ago, over coffee we were discussing Crater Lake.
Were you able to drive to the main area? Hotel?
We visited friends in Bend, Oregon in 1999, who took us there. Only one half of the route was open(west side?). The other half was still snowbound. This was about July 6.
That lake is only about 5000 feet above sea level. Very interesting place.
One more thing. Our friends moved from Chico, CA to Bend in retirement.
Is there a simple reason that GISS excludes this station?
Some of the best times we had as kids was running loose in the state parks !!!
I tell you what, when “global warming” gets up to my hoo hah, I am not a very happy voter!
Scottish Sceptic says:
June 5, 2011 at 1:10 am
I can remember back to 50s, but in particular I can remember snow in June in Edinburgh in the mid 70s. 2nd June I think, 1975.
I don’t want to worry you but from then on until we had a Minster for Drought (Dennis Howell) in the autumn of 1976 we had the worst drought on record followed by record floods.
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/philip-eden/The-greatest-drought-on-record.htm
So the hockey stick is real after all; only its pointing downwards not upwards.
Crater lake is one of the natural wonders of the world. I highly recommend everyone to make it there at least once.
Anthony,
Your family outing at Crater Lake sounded fun.
Perhaps a bit O/T but western US snow pack is filling up western reservoirs.
http://lakepowell.water-data.com/
I know its only weather but the temp. records shown on the Crater lake web site seem to show this year starting out not so bad but just refusing to warm up as normally….
It is June and the azaleas and rhodies have just begun blooming here in the pacific NW of the US. These are the markers we use here to denote the arrival of spring- usually in the latter half of April.
That’s about six weeks late. Plus we have 200% of snowpack.
Like Joe Bastardi says we haven’t seen these conditions since the early 1950’s. Too long ago for me to remember.
It seems to me that what we are seeing is quite different than the mid 1970’s. Back then we had colder winters, but the summers were not shortened.
Recently at a science summit at Montana State University, a climate change professor was all set to present on how drought was now setting in on the state as proof. Unfortunately, he didn’t plan on the state having record snow-pack with associated record flooding.
Crater Lake: http://appinsys.com/globalwarming/climgraph.aspx?pltparms=GHCNT100AJanDecI188020100900111AR42572597012x
This winter and spring have been amazing here in Montana. We are now waiting for the mountain snow that fell clear up to June to start melting and swelling our rivers. The lakes and reservoirs are already full: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_5eebd3d8-6511-5cfd-a685-180dd44e4177.html
Pick a warm summer and hike down to the lake from the north rim. Jump into the water. The viz is great, but the temperature isn’t, so get your fanny out fast. The quick dip is very refreshing. And if it is a warm year, you’ll be dry by the time you get back up the trail.
http://omniclimate.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/a-new-treasure-trove-of-1970s-global-cooling-articles/ Global cooling meme (consensus?) through 1970s, (25+ years after cooling started), fading to 1985, 10 years after warming started. Subsequently we started the global warming meme, with growing consensus at least through the early 2000s, with clear skeptical growth starting about 2003 and becoming significant by 2010, about 13 years after warming stopped. It may take another 7 or 8 years to get back to a global cooling consensus. Maybe by then we will get to a variable climate consensus?
Meanwhile, down in the south central Gulf coast of Florida I was a bit chilled swimming in the Gulf yesterday morning. Seems the water wasn’t yet quite up to the 84 F I am used to at this time of year.
Murray says:
June 5, 2011 at 9:49 am
It may take another 7 or 8 years to get back to a global cooling consensus. Maybe by then we will get to a variable climate consensus?
Don’t bet on it. Alarmists have always conjured up a doom of some sort as a pretense to getting in your pocketbook.
OT sort of-Pamela Gray-how’s the flooding Wallowa Co? here in the Grand Ronde Valley
we’ve got quite a mess. I and wife were up at Joseph about a month ago amazed at
the snows on the north side of the Wallowas, the south west side isn’t so shabby either.
I can view China Cap from my deck. It would be worth noting if some of the snow fields get a little more ah, solid this year….
Re: Crater Lake-Yes I wonder if the snow will melt this year-beautiful place though, love to go through when I get the chance…
So, like, does the lack of snow melt as we approch Summer mean that we can now count Oregon as part of the “arctic snow pack” ?
Just wondering…
FWIW, it’s still winter weather down hear south of San Francisco too…
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/california-rain-now/
wolfwalker says:
June 5, 2011 at 6:16 am
I have to say (very reluctantly) that this isn’t one of your more convincing efforts, Anthony.
____
??? Was Anthony making an effort to try and convince us of something? I thought he reported the weather facts rather nicely…i.e. high snow pack levels at Crater Lake. How much more convincing does he need to be?
What he does provide is a nice record of yet another weather phenomenon associated with a strong winter La Nina and cool phase of the PDO. So, combine the heavy snowfall across the mountains of the western U.S., with the flooding in Australia this past winter, and the heavy tornado activity in the SE U.S. this spring, and it probably gives you a pretty good record of what a La Nina/Cool Phase PDO can do globally…similar in many ways to the winter of 1973-74. Overall, an excellent benchmark to compare for the next time these conditions present themselves.
Murray says:
June 5, 2011 at 9:49 am
http://omniclimate.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/a-new-treasure-trove-of-1970s-global-cooling-articles/ Global cooling meme (consensus?) through 1970s, (25+ years after cooling started), fading to 1985, 10 years after warming started. Subsequently we started the global warming meme, with growing consensus at least through the early 2000s, with clear skeptical growth starting about 2003 and becoming significant by 2010, about 13 years after warming stopped. It may take another 7 or 8 years to get back to a global cooling consensus. Maybe by then we will get to a variable climate consensus?
____
There’s just one small fly in the ointment…throughout all this up and down “consensus” activity, arctic sea ice has continued to decline on a year-to-year basis. Seems the arctic is more responsive to longer-term climate forcing rather than the short-term ups and downs of the ENSO cycle. As the arctic is, and always has been on the front lines for the earliest signs of AGW…until we see the Arctic sea ice began some kind of long-term year-to-year recovery, all signs indicate that GCM’s are pretty much correct in thinking we’ll see an ice free arctic this century.
As E.M. Smith notes it is still winter here in California as well. Foot of new snow on the crest this morning, lots of artistic avalanche debris paths as the heavy wet new snow slides off. Looks like the snow level was about 9500′, although one slide did make it down the mountain almost to the valley floor.
We have gotten a few inches of snow in town as well the last few storms. June 1 we had a daytime temp of 33F, blowing snow, and maybe an inch or two on the ground. Normal high: 67F.
And more snow on the way. Overnight lows forecast in the mid twenties, highs around 40. That’s 25F below normal.
As to whether all this snow will melt: Once it warms, a 25ft snowpack will disappear in 2-4 weeks.
http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp013390.pdf
What would be interesting is if the jet stream stayed south all summer, and we did not get those 2-4 weeks…I suspect that is how we get glaciations. Last summer we only got about 6 weeks of dry warm summer weather, which is enough to finish off the snowpack in the high country. And it snowed every month of the year.
I have it on good authority from a commentator here at WUWT that snow is caused by warmth. Since no one was able to convince him he was wrong I guess he must be right. It is 90 here in Florida so I expect a blizzard any moment.
The SF Bay Area – and most of CA as far as I can tell – is having a very cold spring this year. Typically, we’re well into the 80s and low 90s by now in inland areas, and at least mid to high 70s around the Bay. We’ve been hard-pressed to get above 65 this year, and we’ve had maybe three days over 80 that I can recall. Also, after a warm and very pleasant January (a fairly typical La Nina phenomenon), we’ve had lots of drippy weather right through today.
I was just watching Canada’s The Weather Network where it was noted that the Edmonton airport received 1.4 cm of snow the other day, the first ever recorded June snowfall at Edmonton airport.
Robertvdl says:
June 5, 2011 at 3:14 am
Disturbing Imagery Of Declining Summer Snowpack In Colorado
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/disturbing-imagery-of-declining-summer-snowpack-in-colorado/
Authorities said because of so much snow, they could not open on Memorial Day.
=//=//=//=//=//=//=//=//=//=
Yeah, Trail Ridge Road, the most altitudinous through highway in at least the Lower 48 and maybe in the whole dang country!
(A “through road” crosses over some mountains and then keeps going, while whatever the opposite is called may go to the summit of a mountain, and therefore go higher than a through road, but then the road ends and you have to turn around and come back down.)
It takes about six weeks of plowing to clear Trail Ridge Road in the spring. Sometimes they finish by their target of Memorial Day, sometimes they don’t. And then sometimes it’ll snow hard again and they’ll re-close the road until the new stuff is cleared. Rocky Mountain National Park – beautiful country!
The blog cited up there ^^^^^ has a link to a story with more photos, here: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110604/NEWS0101/106040361/Trail-Ridge-Road-prepared-late-opening