Mount Rainier Paradise reaches 200" snow depth

Time for some updated and still-astounding numbers as of June 1, as the historically cold and wet Northwest spring of 2011 continues to cap off this record-setting snow season:

Snowdepth at Paradise as of June 1 is 213" on the NPS snow stake (203" on NWAC telemetry). This is the 2nd greatest June 1 snowdepth out of 91 years which have June 1 data -- wow! This year trails only 1974 which had an outrageous 245" depth, and exceeds 1972 (209"), 1999 (204"), 1971 (199"), and 1917 (198"). Average June 1 snowdepth is 114", so this is almost 190% of normal snowpack now. Last year (which had the best mid-summer skiing conditions in well over a decade or longer), the June 1 snowdepth was only 142" (125% of normal). At the other end of the scale, only two years have had zero snowdepth at Paradise on June 1: the cruel seasons of 1941 and 2005.


[size=small]Still snowing hard at Paradise on the morning of June 1, 2011.[/size]

The seasonal maximum NPS snowdepth was 253" on April 28, while the NWAC telemetry reached 241" on both April 15 and April 28.
Unfortunately, the total snowfall numbers for the season at Paradise somehow got "revised" (or screwed up?) in late May, strangely dropping back under 900" after reaching 902" on May 9 -- the number is back up to exactly 900" as of June 1 on the park phone recording.


Snowdepths are now generally 170% to over 300% of normal at most mountain sites from southwestern BC through the entire Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada, while new season snowfall records were set at several ski areas in WA, OR, and CA. Other June 1 values for stations which I've been following in this thread:

BC:
The Upper Squamish River BCRFC site (4500 ft, west of Whistler and Mt Cayley) is at 164" as of June 1, roughly 200% of normal, and as usual the most of any Canadian telemetry site. The seasonal maximum was 239" on March 16.

The snowiest measurement site in Canada, however, is the monthly manual snow course at Orchid Lake (3900 ft) south of Mt Garibaldi. The snowdepth as of May 31 is 195" (over 180% of normal). A maximum snowdepth of 256" was recorded at this site during the April 7 snow survey, the greatest snowdepth recorded at any official site in Canada this season as far as I know.

The Whistler ski area has 107" of snowdepth at 5400 ft (170% of normal) as of the final day of winter operations (and snow reports) on May 30. Total snowfall for the season (November-May) was 622", making this only the 2nd season to break 600" at Whistler, trailing the record 673" of 1998-99 and surpassing the 588" in 2009-2010 which was the former #2 season. Average annual snowfall is about 417", so this is 150% of normal snowfall.

WA:
Mt Baker Ski Area (4200 ft) is at 199" as of June 1, just barely dropping under 200" since yesterday. Average June 1 snowdepth is roughly 80", so this is about 250% of normal! The seasonal maximum was 258" on April 6, nearly matched by reaching 254" on April 28. Snowfall for the season at the ski area was 857" from November-April, not including any snowfall in May, which would bring it close to 900" for the season, far over the annual average of about 650".

Hurricane Ridge (5260 ft) has 118" as of June 1, with a seasonal maximum of 166" on April 14.
Washington Pass (5500 ft) has 80" as of June 1, with a seasonal maximum of 131" on April 6.

Stevens Pass still has 78" of snow at 4000 ft, which is over 300% of normal for June 1, and its seasonal maximum was 139" on April 6. The snowdepth is still 130" at Grace Lakes (4800 ft) and 147" atop Skyline Chair (5240 ft), which had seasonal maxima of 188" and 193" at those sites on April 6. The ski area recorded 514" of snowfall for the season from November to mid-April, just over their annual average of about 490".

Snoqualmie Pass has only 35" of snow left at 3000 ft, but that is over 500% of normal which is only 6" on June 1. The seasonal maximum was 106" on April 8. The WSDOT recorded 497" of snowfall at Snoqualmie Pass through May 22, exceeding the long-term annual average of about 440" despite a very dry mid-season. Alpental still has 70" at 3120 ft as of June 1, while its seasonal maximum was 122" on April 6 with 207" reported by the ski area atop Alpental (5400 ft).

Crystal Mountain ski area set a new snowfall record this season , with 609" in Green Valley as of June 1, topping their previous record of 596" from 1998-99 and over 160% of normal (about 360"). Snowdepth as of June 1 is still 88" at the base (4480 ft) and 141" in Green Valley (6300 ft), both over 200% of normal. The seasonal maximum was 115" on April 28 at the base and 164" on April 29 in Green Valley. The ski area plans to remain open for skiing on weekends only well into June and possibly July.


[size=small]Exceptional snow coverage remains at Crystal Mountain on June 3, 2011.[/size]

Cayuse Pass SNOTEL (5240 ft, near the hairpin turn on SR 410 above Cayuse Pass) still has 179" as of June 1, while its seasonal maximum was 228" on April 15.
Swift Creek SNOTEL (4440 ft, on the south side of Mt St Helens) has had problems with its snowdepth sensor since January (more and more flaky, then offline), but daily midnight values of snowdepth are being calculated by NRCS staff and edited into the data. This value as of June 1 is 172" (well over 200% of normal), with a seasonal maximum value of 218" on April 29.

OR:
Mt Hood, Timberline Lodge (6000 ft) has 184" as of June 1 (roughly 180% of normal), with a seasonal maximum of 218" on April 29. Seasonal snowfall at the ski area is 739" to date. Timberline may actually have enough snow to remain open all summer (except the usual 10-day maintenance closure in early fall), which it hasn't quite managed to do most of the last few years.

Mt Hood Meadows (5250 ft) has 117" as of June 1, with a seasonal maximum of 166" on April 29. Seasonal snowfall at the ski area was 624" through their closing date of May 15.

Mt Bachelor Ski Area set a new snowfall record with 665", shattering their previous record of 606" from 1998-99 and over 170% of normal (387"). Snowdepth as of their closing weekend on May 28 was 129" at the 6300 ft base, with 175" at 7700 ft. The ski area has posted an interesting recap of their 2010-2011 season online .

Crater Lake park headquarters (6400 ft) has a depth of 119" as of June 1 (240% of normal), with a seasonal high of 160" on March 29. This is the largest June 1 snowdepth since 1983 which had 121" left on June 1 following Crater Lake's all-time record snowdepth of 252" on April 3, 1983. Snowfall for this season is now up to 671" as of June 1 (130% of normal), the 9th greatest snowfall total in 84 years of records and far surpassing its average annual snowfall of 524". Snowdepth at the crater rim (7050 ft) is 165" as of June 1, with a seasonal maximum of 174" on April 26 (several lengthy data outages this season, so the true maximum may have been greater on another date).


[size=small]Deep snowpack at Crater Lake park headquarters (6400 ft) on the afternoon of June 1, 2011.[/size]

CA:
In California, the huge March storm cycles (which brought 10-20 ft of snowfall to Shasta, Lassen, and the Sierra Nevada over a 2 week period) ended on March 27-28, followed by mostly sunny weather and only a small amount of snowfall throughout April. Stormy weather resumed in May, with multiple storm cycles bringing several feet of additional snowfall, and heavy snow is continuing to fall into the start of June.

Mt Shasta, Old Ski Bowl (7600 ft) has 170" as of June 1 (roughly 300% of normal) with 14" of new snow in the last 36 hours. The seasonal maximum was about 230" from March 26-28. The sensor is mounted much too low at this site at only 237" high, and many readings during the maximum period were inconsistent and pegged at this 237" value. The Sand Flat CCSS site (6750 ft, just west of Bunny Flat) has 109" as of June 1 (over 400% of normal) with 11" of new snow in the last 36 hours. Its maximum was about 200" from March 26-28 (this sensor also apparently got buried, with 5 days of no data from March 24-29, and data resuming at 186" on March 29).

Lassen Peak, Lake Helen (8250 ft) has 229" as of June 1 (roughly 200% of normal) with 10" of new snow in the last 24 hours. Its seasonal maximum of 274" on March 26 was the greatest snowdepth recorded at any telemetry site in North America this season, and its current value is still tops among all sites. This site has two snowdepth sensors, the primary one mounted at 297" above ground and an auxiliary sensor (on another tower?) at 357" high -- the auxiliary sensor has 218" as of June 1, while its seasonal maximum was 262" on March 26.


[size=small]Still snowing hard at the Lassen Volcanic National Park visitor center (6700 ft) on the afternoon of June 1, 2011.[/size]

In the Sierra, all ski areas except Mammoth are now closed for the season, but given the deep snowpack remaining now, a few of them (Sugar Bowl, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley) are planning to reopen for the 4th of July weekend according to their websites.

Squaw Valley shattered its all-time season snowfall record by about 100", with 496" at the 6200 ft base and 789" at 8200 ft through its closing date on Memorial Day. It had never broken 700" before. See their complete daily snowfall data .

Sierra-at-Tahoe also broke its snowfall record this season with 763" at its upper 8850 ft measurement site. They also post complete daily snowfall data .

It appears that only two SNOTEL sites in the Sierra exceeded 200" of snowdepth this season:
Independence Lake SNOTEL (8350 ft, north of I-80 and Lake Tahoe) still has 137" as of June 1, far below its seasonal maximum of 214" on March 25.
Leavitt Lake SNOTEL (9600 ft, west of Bridgeport, well south of Lake Tahoe) still has 178" as of June 1, an impressive total but well off its seasonal maximum of 237" on March 25.

Mammoth Mountain has a snowdepth of 108" at the 8900 ft main lodge and 204" higher up as of June 1, with season snowfall of 664" as reported by the ski area . This is only 4" shy of the 668" in 2005-6 which was widely reported as its all-time record snowfall. Season snowfall is 649" as reported on the Mammoth Ski Patrol's pages , which is a new record far surpassing the 578" recorded by the patrol in 2005-6. Their telemetry site at 9000 ft still shows 110" as of June 1, far below the seasonal maximum was 215" on March 25. Mammoth Mountain ski area is planning to remain open until July 4, and perhaps longer -- its latest closing date was August 13 in 1995.

Bump: Updated the previous post on June 3 to include several missing/revised values, plus added some photos.

Wow, Amar,
It seems like there might even be a minuscule chance that Paradise may hold 200 inches through the summer solstice.

Sorry, Ron, it looks like the past weekend's warm weather finally started melting off significant snow: the Paradise snowdepth has already fallen below 200", with 195" at the NPS snow stake as of today June 7, and 187" on the NWAC telemetry. Even during 1974 which had the deepest late-spring and summer snowpack on record, the snowdepth only remained above 200" until June 18, a few days short of the solstice.

Lassen Peak, Lake Helen (8250 ft) still has 224" as of June 7, the only telemetry site in North America still over 200". That's a decrease of only 5" since June 1, as roughly another foot of new snow has fallen there since then. Sustained sunny weather is moving in today though, so even Lassen is unlikely to stay above 200" more than another week or so.