TUOLUMNE MEADOWS WINTER CONDITIONS UPDATE March 3, 2010

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March 3, 2010
 
 
Weather: (February 25 through March 3)
High temp: 45° (March 1)
Low temp:  2 (February 25 and March 3)
New Snow: 20”                                       
Total settled snow depth: 62” as of March 3                        
 
Ski Conditions and Weather:  This past week was again stormy and windy  as a series of storms came through Tuolumne. It is currently snowing and the weather service is predicting that trend to continue for the near future. We have a solid deep base and you can ski just about anywhere. Caution is still advised due to the wind loading and amounts of snow we received recently. Trail breaking varies with each storm. The last storm was wet and put down a solid base to ski on top of, so we were only sinking in about 6 inches. Sun crusts are developing when the sun does come out. For the month of February we picked up 65 inches of snow with 4.98 inches of water content. 50 inches of that snow came in the last week. No recent reports of where snowline is on either side of Tuolumne. The days are getting longer but it is still very much like winter here.
              
Wildlife:    
We saw our usual Coyote, Pine Marten, Weasel, Chickaree, White-tailed Jack Rabbit, and many tiny rodent tracks.
 
Birds seen and heard this week include the Mountain Chickadee, Red Breasted Nuthatch,  Brown Creeper, Clark’s Nutcracker, and Red Crossbills.
  
Questions: We have no land lines or cell tower operating and the power is still out. Sorry for the inconvenience. (Jeff and Kathi, the Tuolumne winter rangers).