Like the snow at Paradise, about 17 feet (4/17/11), I've been inundated with other things this years, chief among them health issues - yeah, it sucks getting old but that's another story for elsewhere, and I haven't had time to get the monthly updates, news and reports out on the first of the month and now it's past the middle of April without that report.
So, I've decided to merge April and May news into May since it's the start of the winter to spring transistion. This means the next report will be on-line around May 1st, or thereabouts, and hopefully a few days before so folks will be ready for May when the NPS transistions the NP to spring. This will be difficult as there is still snow throughout the NP except for the northwest corner so all the roads are closed except the road to Paradise.
In addition, we're waiting for the signs of the onset of snowmelt. Since we're running about 120% of normal snowpack and it's been increasing abnormally later into this month, it will be awhile before the snowmelt is actually seen beyond the data. Normally April is when the snowfall decreases to zero and the snowpack levels off to the onset of snowmelt season the first week of May.
And that's the rub this year, as you can see from the snow water equivalent graph for this year to date (below).
This is where the next 2-3 weeks of spring will determine if the snow lingers longer near the normal peak, as some are predicting a cooler spring into June, or starts some measure of snowmelt. Already the snowpack has melted and compressed, the thawing and refreezing diurnal which happens, dropping from 18 feet to 17 feet in a few days, but still the same amount of water and thus snowmelt hasn't practically started.
That said, I'll keep you posted when the latest news, updates and reports are available.
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