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Major storm cycle brings 4-8 ft of snow Jan 7-14!
- Amar Andalkar
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- RonL
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12 years 1 month ago - 12 years 1 week ago #219629
by Amar Andalkar
Replied by Amar Andalkar on topic Re: Major storm cycle brings 4-8 ft of snow this week?
Update #7: 168 hours (1 week) after initial post, models predictions have verified with snowfall totals up to 4-8 ft at higher elevations, with 1-3 ft even at lower elevations!
Another day later, and 2 more subsequent runs of the UW WRF-GFS model at 12-hour intervals continue to show the storm cycle gradually tapering off on Monday, with precip and snowfall ending from south to north by Tuesday. This storm cycle has proceeded largely as predicted several days prior to its start by the models, and it really is a stunning success that weather models could quite accurately predict this event from 5-7 days out, including reasonably correct snowfall amounts. Forecasting precip amounts accurately is quite difficult (much more so than temperature or wind), and doing so for snowfall amounts is even more difficult.
The final tail end of this storm cycle is now underway on Monday, with snow levels rising above 4000-5000 ft on Sunday afternoon and into Monday. Snow levels appear to have risen a bit more than the model predicted, but only by about 500-1000 ft higher. Additional snowfall during the 24 hour period through 4am Tuesday is predicted to be 6-12" over the northern Washington Cascades above 4000-5000 ft, with barely a few inches more for the Olympics and southern Washington and Mount Hood, and almost nothing farther south in Oregon:
This loop shows how the model predictions for snowfall during the final day of the storm cycle through 4am Tuesday have evolved between 6 subsequent runs over the last 3 days, the D(model)/D(t):
www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.c...4+v2014011412///+-st
Storm cycle summary and totals:
About 1-6 ft of new snow has fallen at most mountain measurement sites in southwest BC, Washington, and Oregon during the 7 days since the storm cycle began early Tuesday, January 7, with the greatest amounts at favored locations on the Cascade Crest and volcanoes, and lesser amounts east of the Crest, in the Olympics, and in southern Oregon. Low elevations did not fare well during this storm cycle, with snow levels only briefly dropping below 2000 ft in southwest BC and Washington, and 3000 ft in northern Oregon -- snowfall amounts of 1 ft or greater were generally received only above 2000 ft in the north ranging to 4000 ft in Oregon. Total precipitation exceeded 10" at the wettest sites on Mounts Baker, Saint Helens and Hood, plus Snoqualmie Pass and the Tolt River headwaters west of Stevens Pass. Given precip totals of 10-12" or even 15" (see table below), snowfall totals of over 8 ft (possibly 10 ft) were likely received above 6000 ft on Mount Baker and 7000 ft on Mounts Saint Helens and Hood where the precip remained entirely snow, versus several periods of mixed precip and extremely dense wet snowfall recorded at Baker Ski Area, Meadows, and Timberline.
Snowdepths have increased substantially at most measurement sites in the Cascades and Olympics, doubling or even tripling at many sites especially at lower elevations and in Oregon. Snowdepths have generally increased by about 2-4 ft at most sites above 3000 ft during this storm cycle, topped by the 50" increase seen at Mount Rainier Paradise. Snowdepth at 3 sites in the Cascades has topped the 100" mark: first the Chilliwack River BCRFC site on Saturday afternoon (5300 ft in the BC Cascades just north of the US border near Mount Baker), followed a few hours later by the Brown Top SNOTEL site (5800 ft near Mount Redoubt in the North Cascades), and then Paradise on Sunday morning. Snowdepth at Paradise is now roughly 100% of normal for this date! -- it's shocking to see that, given how far below normal this season has been thus far (of course, obviously the new snowfall will rapidly settle and reduce the depth below 100% of normal in a few days -- but January snowdepth values often include much new unconsolidated snow like this). The Chilliwack River BCRFC site is now slightly above 100% of normal for snowdepth and snow water equivalent:
The Blackwall Peak BCRFC site in the BC Cascades (Manning Park) is roughly 100% of normal too, and the Brown Top SNOTEL might be at or above normal too, except it was only installed in 2009 and so normal values are not yet established. All other sites in the Cascades, Olympics, and southwest BC remain below normal snowdepth, but a few others are close to normal especially farther north: Whistler Mountain, Baker Ski Area, and Stevens Pass are all roughly 90% of normal as of now.
One big Pacific Northwest storm cycle can really fix a low snowpack! And this was merely a big storm cycle, not a huge one at all -- huge Northwest storm cycles can deliver 10-15 ft of snow during 1 week, and sometimes with much lower snow levels (at times) than this one. This storm cycle will be remembered for "saving the season" at several ski areas in Washington and southwest BC, as they finally acquired enough base depth to open for the first time this season (Snoqualmie Summit and Alpental in WA; Mt Washington, Mt Seymour, and Hemlock Valley in BC). However, several other Pacific Northwest ski areas remain closed or in rope-tow-only operation as the storm did not bring them enough snow to open, especially so in Oregon (Mt Cain in BC, Loup Loup in WA; Mt Hood Ski Bowl, Cooper Spur, Hoodoo, Willamette Pass, and Mt Ashland in OR; Mt Shasta Ski Park in CA, which had partially opened for a few days after Christmas, then closed). The snowpack remains far below normal in those areas, still 50% of normal or less. Stunningly, the snowdepth is still 0-10% of normal even at high-elevation sites in northern California on Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak which normally build an extremely deep snowpack.
Table of total snowfall and precip (some amounts may be approximate) for the 7 day period from January 7 through Tuesday morning, January 14, along with the increase in snowdepth from January 7 up to the maximum depth reached during this storm cycle (most maxima occurred on January 12, some on the 11th or 13th):
[tt]
Increase in
Total Snowdepth Total
Measurement Site Elevation Snowfall Jan7 >>> Max Precip Notes
==== British Columbia ====
Burnt Bridge Creek BCRFC 4360 ft 3.5 ft 43" >>> 76" 4.5" (way north, E of Bella Coola)
Tenquille Lake BCRFC 5480 ft 3 ft 43" >>> 71" 3.5" (N of Whistler, all snow)
Whistler Mountain 5400 ft 3 ft 42" >>> 69" --
Whistler Village 2200 ft 1.5 ft 1" >>> 13" --
Callaghan Valley 2900 ft 2.5 ft 9" >>> 35" 3" (W of Whistler)
Squamish River BCRFC 4550 ft 5 ft 48" >>> 83" 6.5" (almost all snow)
Spuzzum Creek BCRFC 3930 ft 4 ft 33" >>> 66" 8" (near Harrison Lake)
Chilliwack River BCRFC 5320 ft 5 ft 72" >>> 109" 7"?? (BC Cascades, almost all snow)
Blackwall Peak BCRFC 6350 ft 3 ft 45" >>> 71" 3.5" (BC Cascades, all snow)
Jump Creek BCRFC 3720 ft 4 ft 8" >>> 46" 8" (Vancouver Island)
======= Washington =======
Hurricane Ridge 5250 ft 2 ft 14" >>> 30" 3.5"
Waterhole SNOTEL 5010 ft 2 ft 14" >>> 32" 5" (N side of Olympics)
Buckinghorse SNOTEL 4870 ft 3 ft 8" >>> 36" 9" (central Olympics)
Mount Crag SNOTEL 3960 ft 2 ft 2" >>> 19" 4" (E side of Olympics)
Mt Baker Ski Area 4200 ft 5 ft 59" >>> 94" 8" (snowdepth flaky +/- 5")
Mt Baker, MF Nooksack 4970 ft 4 ft 51" >>> 79" 10" (NW side of Mt Baker)
Mt Baker, Marten Ridge 3520 ft 4 ft 36" >>> 67" 12.5" (E side of Mt Baker)
Mt Baker, Elbow Lake 3040 ft 3 ft 16" >>> 38" 15" !! (SW side of Mt Baker)
Brown Top SNOTEL 5830 ft 5 ft 64" >>> 105" 6.5" (almost all snow)
Beaver Pass SNOTEL 3630 ft 3 ft 24" >>> 51" 5.5"
Swamp Creek SNOTEL 3930 ft 3 ft 23" >>> 45" 4.5" (on Hwy 20, W of Rainy Pass)
Washington Pass 5450 ft 3.5 ft 32" >>> 68" 4" (almost all snow)
Harts Pass SNOTEL 6500 ft 4 ft 44" >>> 76" 5" (all snow)
Mazama 2200 ft 0.7 ft 8" >>> 15" 1"
Park Creek Ridge SNOTEL 4600 ft 3.5 ft 26" >>> 56" 6" (SE ridge of Mt Buckner)
Holden Village 3220 ft 2.5 ft 6" >>> 25" 4.5"
Lyman Lake SNOTEL 5980 ft 4 ft 56" >>> 89" 5"
Trinity SNOTEL 2930 ft 3 ft 12" >>> 42" 6"
Alpine Meadows SNOTEL 3500 ft 3 ft 26" >>> 44" 13" (Tolt River headwaters)
Skookum Creek SNOTEL 3310 ft 2 ft 16" >>> 31" 12" (Tolt River headwaters)
Stevens Pass, Grace Lakes 4800 ft 5 ft 57" >>> 94" --
Stevens Pass 3950 ft 4 ft 36" >>> 67" 7"
Sasse Ridge SNOTEL 4340 ft 3 ft 24" >>> 50" 4.5" (E of Salmon La Sac Rd)
Blewett Pass SNOTEL 4240 ft 1.5 ft 6" >>> 21" 2.5" (near old Blewett Pass)
Grouse Camp SNOTEL 5390 ft 1.5 ft 16" >>> 31" 2.5" (between Blewett & Mission)
Mission Ridge 5160 ft 1 ft 12" >>> 23" 1.5"
Top of Alpental 5470 ft 5 ft 80" >>> 94" -- (snowdepth may be suspect?)
Alpental Base 3100 ft 2.5 ft 23" >>> 44" 9.5"
Snoqualmie Pass 3000 ft 2.5 ft 15" >>> 37" 10"
Stampede Pass 3850 ft 2.5 ft 12" >>> 35" 6.5"
Corral Pass SNOTEL 5800 ft 3.5 ft 31" >>> 60" 5" (N of Crystal Mtn)
Crystal Mtn, Green Valley 6230 ft 3.5 ft 46" >>> 81" --
Crystal Mtn Base 4570 ft 2.5 ft 11" >>> 34" 3"
Morse Lake SNOTEL 5400 ft 4 ft 27" >>> 60" 5" (just S of Crystal Mtn)
Cayuse Pass SNOTEL 5240 ft 4 ft 25" >>> 59" 6"
Mt Rainier, Sunrise 6400 ft 2 ft 28" >>> 48" --
Mt Rainier, Paradise 5400 ft 5.5 ft 56" >>> 106" 7"
Mt Rainier, Paradise SNOTEL 5130 ft 5 ft 39" >>> 89" 8"
Mt Rainier, Longmire 2700 ft 1 ft 0" >>> 13" 4"
Bumping Ridge SNOTEL 4610 ft 3.5 ft 11" >>> 42" 4.5" (SE of Chinook Pass)
White Pass Ski Area (top) 5800 ft 4.5 ft 49" >>> 91" 6"
White Pass E.S. SNOTEL 4440 ft 2.5 ft 7" >>> 30" 4.5"
Mt Adams, Potato Hill 4510 ft 3 ft 19" >>> 45" 5" (N side of Mt Adams)
Surprise Lakes SNOTEL 4290 ft 3 ft 21" >>> 46" 9" (Indian Heaven, SW of Adams)
Mt St Helens, Swift Creek 4440 ft 3 ft 11" >>> 37" 10" (S side of St Helens)
Mt St Helens, Sheep Canyon 3990 ft 3 ft 9" >>> 32" 9.5" (W side of St Helens)
Mt St Helens, June Lake 3440 ft 3 ft 6" >>> 32" 12" (SE side of St Helens)
Mt St Helens, Marble Mtn 2700 ft 1 ft 0" >>> 12" -- (very approximate number)
========= Oregon =========
Blazed Alder SNOTEL 3650 ft 2 ft 4" >>> 22" 9" (NW of Mt Hood)
Mt Hood, Red Hill SNOTEL 4410 ft 3 ft 10" >>> 33" 8" (N side of Mt Hood)
Mt Hood, Timberline 5880 ft 5 ft 29" >>> 68" 11.5"
Mt Hood, Test Site SNOTEL 5370 ft 4.5 ft 25" >>> 56" 8" (just S of Timberline)
Mt Hood, Meadows 5380 ft 4.5 ft 25" >>> 54" 9.5"
Mt Hood, Mud Ridge SNOTEL 4070 ft 2 ft 8" >>> 26" 5" (S of Mt Hood)
Mt Hood, Government Camp 3980 ft 1.5 ft 0" >>> 14" 6" (S side of Mt Hood)
Santiam Pass (Hogg Pass) 4790 ft 1.5 ft 4" >>> 18" 2.5"
Hoodoo Ski Area 5010 ft 2 ft 8" >>> 25" --
Bear Grass SNOTEL 4720 ft 2.5 ft 8" >>> 30" 8" (W of Mt Washington)
McKenzie Pass SNOTEL 4770 ft 2.5 ft 16" >>> 36" 7" (near Obsidian Trailhead)
Three Creeks Meadow SNOTEL 5690 ft 2 ft 3" >>> 20" 2.5" (E of Three Sisters)
Mt Bachelor, West Village 6300 ft 3.5 ft 26" >>> 64" --
Irish Taylor SNOTEL 5540 ft 2.5 ft 18" >>> 41" 4.5" (SW of Mt Bachelor)
Willamette Pass, Cascade Smt 5100 ft 2.5 ft 12" >>> 33" 4"
Diamond Peak, Summit Lake 5610 ft 2 ft 14" >>> 30" 3" (S side of Diamond Peak)
Diamond Lake SNOTEL 5280 ft 0.5 ft 1" >>> 7" 2" (extremely rain-shadowed site)
Crater Lake, Rim 7050 ft 2.5 ft 21" >>> 42" -- (south rim of caldera)
Crater Lake, Park HQ 6470 ft 2.5 ft 4" >>> 32" --
Crater Lake, Lagoon 6370 ft 2.5 ft 14" >>> 38" 3" (near Park HQ)
Crater Lake, Annie Springs 6000 ft 2 ft 8" >>> 26" 3" (near Park entrance)
Pelican Butte, Cold Springs 5940 ft 1.5 ft 6" >>> 19" 3" (NW side of Pelican Butte)
Mt McLoughlin, Fourmile Lake 5970 ft 1.5 ft 6" >>> 17" 2.5" (E side of Mt McLoughlin)
Mt McLoughlin, Billie Creek 5280 ft 1.5 ft 5" >>> 18" 3.5" (SE side of Mt McLoughlin)
Big Red Mountain SNOTEL 6050 ft 0.5 ft 2" >>> 7" 1" (Siskiyou Mtns, SW of Ashland)
======= California =======
Medicine Lake 6700 ft 0.2 ft 0" >>> 2" 0.5" (Medicine Lake Volcano caldera)
Mt Shasta, Old Ski Bowl 7600 ft 0.2 ft 6" >>> 8" -- (south side of Mt Shasta)
Mt Shasta, Sand Flat 6750 ft 0.1 ft 4" >>> 5" -- (SW side of Mt Shasta)
Mt Eddy 6510 ft 0.4 ft 1" >>> 6" -- (west of Mt Shasta across I-5)
Lassen Peak, Lake Helen 8250 ft data outage, snowdepth < 1 ft (SW side of Lassen Peak)
Lassen, Harkness Flat 6200 ft 0.2 ft 0" >>> 2" -- (well east of Lassen Peak)
[/tt]
Throughout California, there was only about 2-5" of new snow (all of which fell on Saturday) for anywhere in the California Cascades and the Sierra Nevada.
The persistent ridge of high pressure off the West Coast is already rebuilding northward, bringing this storm cycle to an end and bringing back the mostly sunny warm weather for Tuesday-Friday, especially south (northern WA and southwest BC may remain partly cloudy and have higher winds). It's time to head out and enjoy the new twice-as-deep snowpack, especially above-treeline on the volcanoes.
Details beyond that point still remain murky and very uncertain as of now, with subsequent runs of the extended GFS model shifting around predictions during the 7-16 day time frame. Currently it looks like a weak system may brush northern WA while heading primarily for the central BC coast on Saturday, followed by the ridge rebuilding strongly on Sunday-Monday.
[size=small](Edited in February to add Callaghan Valley numbers to table.)[/size]
Another day later, and 2 more subsequent runs of the UW WRF-GFS model at 12-hour intervals continue to show the storm cycle gradually tapering off on Monday, with precip and snowfall ending from south to north by Tuesday. This storm cycle has proceeded largely as predicted several days prior to its start by the models, and it really is a stunning success that weather models could quite accurately predict this event from 5-7 days out, including reasonably correct snowfall amounts. Forecasting precip amounts accurately is quite difficult (much more so than temperature or wind), and doing so for snowfall amounts is even more difficult.
The final tail end of this storm cycle is now underway on Monday, with snow levels rising above 4000-5000 ft on Sunday afternoon and into Monday. Snow levels appear to have risen a bit more than the model predicted, but only by about 500-1000 ft higher. Additional snowfall during the 24 hour period through 4am Tuesday is predicted to be 6-12" over the northern Washington Cascades above 4000-5000 ft, with barely a few inches more for the Olympics and southern Washington and Mount Hood, and almost nothing farther south in Oregon:
This loop shows how the model predictions for snowfall during the final day of the storm cycle through 4am Tuesday have evolved between 6 subsequent runs over the last 3 days, the D(model)/D(t):
www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.c...4+v2014011412///+-st
Storm cycle summary and totals:
About 1-6 ft of new snow has fallen at most mountain measurement sites in southwest BC, Washington, and Oregon during the 7 days since the storm cycle began early Tuesday, January 7, with the greatest amounts at favored locations on the Cascade Crest and volcanoes, and lesser amounts east of the Crest, in the Olympics, and in southern Oregon. Low elevations did not fare well during this storm cycle, with snow levels only briefly dropping below 2000 ft in southwest BC and Washington, and 3000 ft in northern Oregon -- snowfall amounts of 1 ft or greater were generally received only above 2000 ft in the north ranging to 4000 ft in Oregon. Total precipitation exceeded 10" at the wettest sites on Mounts Baker, Saint Helens and Hood, plus Snoqualmie Pass and the Tolt River headwaters west of Stevens Pass. Given precip totals of 10-12" or even 15" (see table below), snowfall totals of over 8 ft (possibly 10 ft) were likely received above 6000 ft on Mount Baker and 7000 ft on Mounts Saint Helens and Hood where the precip remained entirely snow, versus several periods of mixed precip and extremely dense wet snowfall recorded at Baker Ski Area, Meadows, and Timberline.
Snowdepths have increased substantially at most measurement sites in the Cascades and Olympics, doubling or even tripling at many sites especially at lower elevations and in Oregon. Snowdepths have generally increased by about 2-4 ft at most sites above 3000 ft during this storm cycle, topped by the 50" increase seen at Mount Rainier Paradise. Snowdepth at 3 sites in the Cascades has topped the 100" mark: first the Chilliwack River BCRFC site on Saturday afternoon (5300 ft in the BC Cascades just north of the US border near Mount Baker), followed a few hours later by the Brown Top SNOTEL site (5800 ft near Mount Redoubt in the North Cascades), and then Paradise on Sunday morning. Snowdepth at Paradise is now roughly 100% of normal for this date! -- it's shocking to see that, given how far below normal this season has been thus far (of course, obviously the new snowfall will rapidly settle and reduce the depth below 100% of normal in a few days -- but January snowdepth values often include much new unconsolidated snow like this). The Chilliwack River BCRFC site is now slightly above 100% of normal for snowdepth and snow water equivalent:
The Blackwall Peak BCRFC site in the BC Cascades (Manning Park) is roughly 100% of normal too, and the Brown Top SNOTEL might be at or above normal too, except it was only installed in 2009 and so normal values are not yet established. All other sites in the Cascades, Olympics, and southwest BC remain below normal snowdepth, but a few others are close to normal especially farther north: Whistler Mountain, Baker Ski Area, and Stevens Pass are all roughly 90% of normal as of now.
One big Pacific Northwest storm cycle can really fix a low snowpack! And this was merely a big storm cycle, not a huge one at all -- huge Northwest storm cycles can deliver 10-15 ft of snow during 1 week, and sometimes with much lower snow levels (at times) than this one. This storm cycle will be remembered for "saving the season" at several ski areas in Washington and southwest BC, as they finally acquired enough base depth to open for the first time this season (Snoqualmie Summit and Alpental in WA; Mt Washington, Mt Seymour, and Hemlock Valley in BC). However, several other Pacific Northwest ski areas remain closed or in rope-tow-only operation as the storm did not bring them enough snow to open, especially so in Oregon (Mt Cain in BC, Loup Loup in WA; Mt Hood Ski Bowl, Cooper Spur, Hoodoo, Willamette Pass, and Mt Ashland in OR; Mt Shasta Ski Park in CA, which had partially opened for a few days after Christmas, then closed). The snowpack remains far below normal in those areas, still 50% of normal or less. Stunningly, the snowdepth is still 0-10% of normal even at high-elevation sites in northern California on Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak which normally build an extremely deep snowpack.
Table of total snowfall and precip (some amounts may be approximate) for the 7 day period from January 7 through Tuesday morning, January 14, along with the increase in snowdepth from January 7 up to the maximum depth reached during this storm cycle (most maxima occurred on January 12, some on the 11th or 13th):
[tt]
Increase in
Total Snowdepth Total
Measurement Site Elevation Snowfall Jan7 >>> Max Precip Notes
==== British Columbia ====
Burnt Bridge Creek BCRFC 4360 ft 3.5 ft 43" >>> 76" 4.5" (way north, E of Bella Coola)
Tenquille Lake BCRFC 5480 ft 3 ft 43" >>> 71" 3.5" (N of Whistler, all snow)
Whistler Mountain 5400 ft 3 ft 42" >>> 69" --
Whistler Village 2200 ft 1.5 ft 1" >>> 13" --
Callaghan Valley 2900 ft 2.5 ft 9" >>> 35" 3" (W of Whistler)
Squamish River BCRFC 4550 ft 5 ft 48" >>> 83" 6.5" (almost all snow)
Spuzzum Creek BCRFC 3930 ft 4 ft 33" >>> 66" 8" (near Harrison Lake)
Chilliwack River BCRFC 5320 ft 5 ft 72" >>> 109" 7"?? (BC Cascades, almost all snow)
Blackwall Peak BCRFC 6350 ft 3 ft 45" >>> 71" 3.5" (BC Cascades, all snow)
Jump Creek BCRFC 3720 ft 4 ft 8" >>> 46" 8" (Vancouver Island)
======= Washington =======
Hurricane Ridge 5250 ft 2 ft 14" >>> 30" 3.5"
Waterhole SNOTEL 5010 ft 2 ft 14" >>> 32" 5" (N side of Olympics)
Buckinghorse SNOTEL 4870 ft 3 ft 8" >>> 36" 9" (central Olympics)
Mount Crag SNOTEL 3960 ft 2 ft 2" >>> 19" 4" (E side of Olympics)
Mt Baker Ski Area 4200 ft 5 ft 59" >>> 94" 8" (snowdepth flaky +/- 5")
Mt Baker, MF Nooksack 4970 ft 4 ft 51" >>> 79" 10" (NW side of Mt Baker)
Mt Baker, Marten Ridge 3520 ft 4 ft 36" >>> 67" 12.5" (E side of Mt Baker)
Mt Baker, Elbow Lake 3040 ft 3 ft 16" >>> 38" 15" !! (SW side of Mt Baker)
Brown Top SNOTEL 5830 ft 5 ft 64" >>> 105" 6.5" (almost all snow)
Beaver Pass SNOTEL 3630 ft 3 ft 24" >>> 51" 5.5"
Swamp Creek SNOTEL 3930 ft 3 ft 23" >>> 45" 4.5" (on Hwy 20, W of Rainy Pass)
Washington Pass 5450 ft 3.5 ft 32" >>> 68" 4" (almost all snow)
Harts Pass SNOTEL 6500 ft 4 ft 44" >>> 76" 5" (all snow)
Mazama 2200 ft 0.7 ft 8" >>> 15" 1"
Park Creek Ridge SNOTEL 4600 ft 3.5 ft 26" >>> 56" 6" (SE ridge of Mt Buckner)
Holden Village 3220 ft 2.5 ft 6" >>> 25" 4.5"
Lyman Lake SNOTEL 5980 ft 4 ft 56" >>> 89" 5"
Trinity SNOTEL 2930 ft 3 ft 12" >>> 42" 6"
Alpine Meadows SNOTEL 3500 ft 3 ft 26" >>> 44" 13" (Tolt River headwaters)
Skookum Creek SNOTEL 3310 ft 2 ft 16" >>> 31" 12" (Tolt River headwaters)
Stevens Pass, Grace Lakes 4800 ft 5 ft 57" >>> 94" --
Stevens Pass 3950 ft 4 ft 36" >>> 67" 7"
Sasse Ridge SNOTEL 4340 ft 3 ft 24" >>> 50" 4.5" (E of Salmon La Sac Rd)
Blewett Pass SNOTEL 4240 ft 1.5 ft 6" >>> 21" 2.5" (near old Blewett Pass)
Grouse Camp SNOTEL 5390 ft 1.5 ft 16" >>> 31" 2.5" (between Blewett & Mission)
Mission Ridge 5160 ft 1 ft 12" >>> 23" 1.5"
Top of Alpental 5470 ft 5 ft 80" >>> 94" -- (snowdepth may be suspect?)
Alpental Base 3100 ft 2.5 ft 23" >>> 44" 9.5"
Snoqualmie Pass 3000 ft 2.5 ft 15" >>> 37" 10"
Stampede Pass 3850 ft 2.5 ft 12" >>> 35" 6.5"
Corral Pass SNOTEL 5800 ft 3.5 ft 31" >>> 60" 5" (N of Crystal Mtn)
Crystal Mtn, Green Valley 6230 ft 3.5 ft 46" >>> 81" --
Crystal Mtn Base 4570 ft 2.5 ft 11" >>> 34" 3"
Morse Lake SNOTEL 5400 ft 4 ft 27" >>> 60" 5" (just S of Crystal Mtn)
Cayuse Pass SNOTEL 5240 ft 4 ft 25" >>> 59" 6"
Mt Rainier, Sunrise 6400 ft 2 ft 28" >>> 48" --
Mt Rainier, Paradise 5400 ft 5.5 ft 56" >>> 106" 7"
Mt Rainier, Paradise SNOTEL 5130 ft 5 ft 39" >>> 89" 8"
Mt Rainier, Longmire 2700 ft 1 ft 0" >>> 13" 4"
Bumping Ridge SNOTEL 4610 ft 3.5 ft 11" >>> 42" 4.5" (SE of Chinook Pass)
White Pass Ski Area (top) 5800 ft 4.5 ft 49" >>> 91" 6"
White Pass E.S. SNOTEL 4440 ft 2.5 ft 7" >>> 30" 4.5"
Mt Adams, Potato Hill 4510 ft 3 ft 19" >>> 45" 5" (N side of Mt Adams)
Surprise Lakes SNOTEL 4290 ft 3 ft 21" >>> 46" 9" (Indian Heaven, SW of Adams)
Mt St Helens, Swift Creek 4440 ft 3 ft 11" >>> 37" 10" (S side of St Helens)
Mt St Helens, Sheep Canyon 3990 ft 3 ft 9" >>> 32" 9.5" (W side of St Helens)
Mt St Helens, June Lake 3440 ft 3 ft 6" >>> 32" 12" (SE side of St Helens)
Mt St Helens, Marble Mtn 2700 ft 1 ft 0" >>> 12" -- (very approximate number)
========= Oregon =========
Blazed Alder SNOTEL 3650 ft 2 ft 4" >>> 22" 9" (NW of Mt Hood)
Mt Hood, Red Hill SNOTEL 4410 ft 3 ft 10" >>> 33" 8" (N side of Mt Hood)
Mt Hood, Timberline 5880 ft 5 ft 29" >>> 68" 11.5"
Mt Hood, Test Site SNOTEL 5370 ft 4.5 ft 25" >>> 56" 8" (just S of Timberline)
Mt Hood, Meadows 5380 ft 4.5 ft 25" >>> 54" 9.5"
Mt Hood, Mud Ridge SNOTEL 4070 ft 2 ft 8" >>> 26" 5" (S of Mt Hood)
Mt Hood, Government Camp 3980 ft 1.5 ft 0" >>> 14" 6" (S side of Mt Hood)
Santiam Pass (Hogg Pass) 4790 ft 1.5 ft 4" >>> 18" 2.5"
Hoodoo Ski Area 5010 ft 2 ft 8" >>> 25" --
Bear Grass SNOTEL 4720 ft 2.5 ft 8" >>> 30" 8" (W of Mt Washington)
McKenzie Pass SNOTEL 4770 ft 2.5 ft 16" >>> 36" 7" (near Obsidian Trailhead)
Three Creeks Meadow SNOTEL 5690 ft 2 ft 3" >>> 20" 2.5" (E of Three Sisters)
Mt Bachelor, West Village 6300 ft 3.5 ft 26" >>> 64" --
Irish Taylor SNOTEL 5540 ft 2.5 ft 18" >>> 41" 4.5" (SW of Mt Bachelor)
Willamette Pass, Cascade Smt 5100 ft 2.5 ft 12" >>> 33" 4"
Diamond Peak, Summit Lake 5610 ft 2 ft 14" >>> 30" 3" (S side of Diamond Peak)
Diamond Lake SNOTEL 5280 ft 0.5 ft 1" >>> 7" 2" (extremely rain-shadowed site)
Crater Lake, Rim 7050 ft 2.5 ft 21" >>> 42" -- (south rim of caldera)
Crater Lake, Park HQ 6470 ft 2.5 ft 4" >>> 32" --
Crater Lake, Lagoon 6370 ft 2.5 ft 14" >>> 38" 3" (near Park HQ)
Crater Lake, Annie Springs 6000 ft 2 ft 8" >>> 26" 3" (near Park entrance)
Pelican Butte, Cold Springs 5940 ft 1.5 ft 6" >>> 19" 3" (NW side of Pelican Butte)
Mt McLoughlin, Fourmile Lake 5970 ft 1.5 ft 6" >>> 17" 2.5" (E side of Mt McLoughlin)
Mt McLoughlin, Billie Creek 5280 ft 1.5 ft 5" >>> 18" 3.5" (SE side of Mt McLoughlin)
Big Red Mountain SNOTEL 6050 ft 0.5 ft 2" >>> 7" 1" (Siskiyou Mtns, SW of Ashland)
======= California =======
Medicine Lake 6700 ft 0.2 ft 0" >>> 2" 0.5" (Medicine Lake Volcano caldera)
Mt Shasta, Old Ski Bowl 7600 ft 0.2 ft 6" >>> 8" -- (south side of Mt Shasta)
Mt Shasta, Sand Flat 6750 ft 0.1 ft 4" >>> 5" -- (SW side of Mt Shasta)
Mt Eddy 6510 ft 0.4 ft 1" >>> 6" -- (west of Mt Shasta across I-5)
Lassen Peak, Lake Helen 8250 ft data outage, snowdepth < 1 ft (SW side of Lassen Peak)
Lassen, Harkness Flat 6200 ft 0.2 ft 0" >>> 2" -- (well east of Lassen Peak)
[/tt]
Throughout California, there was only about 2-5" of new snow (all of which fell on Saturday) for anywhere in the California Cascades and the Sierra Nevada.
The persistent ridge of high pressure off the West Coast is already rebuilding northward, bringing this storm cycle to an end and bringing back the mostly sunny warm weather for Tuesday-Friday, especially south (northern WA and southwest BC may remain partly cloudy and have higher winds). It's time to head out and enjoy the new twice-as-deep snowpack, especially above-treeline on the volcanoes.
Details beyond that point still remain murky and very uncertain as of now, with subsequent runs of the extended GFS model shifting around predictions during the 7-16 day time frame. Currently it looks like a weak system may brush northern WA while heading primarily for the central BC coast on Saturday, followed by the ridge rebuilding strongly on Sunday-Monday.
[size=small](Edited in February to add Callaghan Valley numbers to table.)[/size]
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