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winter forum I will say that with the darkness and pristine clear skies, you can see seemingly forever tonight.

No place has been screwed more than the N Shore in the past few years. About 0.25” to 0.5” today.

Ended up with a 7.5” measured total in 24 hours at 1500ft. Gondola was on wind hold so never got to the High Road plot. Skiing was fluff on top of pond ice or slick. Steeper stuff was very sporty.

1/1: 0.1" Season Total: 3.3"

Road trip ?

Gorgeous deep winter night out there. Just came in from a walk and secondary shoveling. Fresh coating with light snow falling and temperature in the teens, light wind. Just trying to take it all in.

Down to 7

Well, fresh snow, clear and calm is definitely living up to its potential...went to a gathering around 5, was 20⁰, just walked home and it is already 6.9⁰

After seeing the Sierra Nevada this summer and seeing the deep snows from forecasts and webcams...we started talking about the Donner Party. They got stuck north of Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite National Park in a place just west of Lake Tahoe. I never could understand why they didn't turn back once it started snowing. Once it snows 4-5', you really are stuck without modern machinery or unless a thaw occurs - I understand now why they got stuck. Really, there was nothing east of the Sierra Nevada at the time (to over winter), and other than grass meadows(where Reno is now) there was no place to wait until spring. There "point of no return" might well have been Fort Bridger. Once they crossed the Wasatch, they were committed. If you are interested in the story(and it indeed mentions the MJO of all things!!!), The Indifferent Stars Above is a great book. It is not for the faint of heart due to the subject matter, but...it provides a riveting story which begins in Illinois, covers each section of the trip(from Great Plains to the Sierra) and ends just short of Johnson's Ranch. There is debate on how bad that winter was. Some say it was a low water year. However, the photos of the stumps in that camp were cut nearly 20-25 in the air. It is likely the snow was incredibly deep, but water content low. There were roughly ten winter events that winter, some from atmospheric river episodes. Winter came early that year, and by some reports, even the hills above San Francisco saw snow that fall. Winter, for sure, came early that year. It buried the inexperienced travelers(at least inexperienced in winter camping and survival). What came next is one of the most horrific narratives in the American settling of the West. Amazingly, some of them walked out during the dead of winter. I though most died in that bowl of ice and snow near the summit. Nope, roughly half survived. 2/3 of the men died. Only two single men survived. Larger families survived.

December had double high-latitude blocking, with the ridge over the Bering Strait even much more prominent than the high pressures over Greenland. The cold polar vortex air tends to develop quite strongly and head toward us with this scenario. Unfortunately, my friends in the Mountain West discussion group have been in a drought, with temperatures like +10F in Denver.

We’ve had some of our best snows after a warm up

It's a weather forum. Weather is a year round kind of thing. And I do like snow just not in 2 inch and dusting increments.

Yea the epo isn’t scheduled to go negative to mid month which is after that screen shot

Forecast low was 15 it's now 10. Cloud cover expected around midnight. I would expect temperatures to level off or rise after that.

no....my son did, but he had covid. he got on paxlovid right away and it kicked the virus' ass. he's also vaxxed.

Will this satisfy you?

Why are you in the winter forum if you don't like the snow?

RIP

Ok. Fair enough.

Wrong thread.

I'm just needling you. Have a healthy and happy new year.

A little January thaw never hurt anyone

Getting out of dinner and it’s a dendrite snow globe. 14 cold degrees.

So not writing off a whole month on the very first day of the month, is all sunshine and lollipops now? Ya, I don’t think so Ken. I love how people conflate things and turn them into something else completely. Appreciate it pal.