Good Morning Snow Shine, MRNP, 13 Dec 08

About a foot here at the Nisqually Entrance, 47 inches fell in the last 24 h at Paradis (40 inches deep on the ground) with winds in the teens, gusting to 40+; nope, they won't (and shouldn't) open the road to paradise today.  More snow tonight, tomorrow ...abc

Woohoo. When everything settles down a little, it will be nice to not have to hike to pebble creek.

Thanks for the nice photo and info about the snowfall at the entrance.  Just a quick note about the Paradise total: it looks like "only" about 32 inches fell in the past 24 hours, not 47.  The "47" reading is an erroneous one, caused when the ultrasonic sensor gets blocked by rime or stuck-on snow, and so it simply gives its maximum possible reading.  Most such 24-hour interval sensors are mounted 4 ft above the board they're attached to, so they read "47" or "48" when blocked.

Nevertheless, 32" of new snow at Paradise is pretty amazing, about twice as much as was forecast (during that period) and about twice as much as any other measurement site in WA or OR.

Even more amazing: if the precip gauge is working correctly, then 1.6" of precip / 32" of snow = 5% density! Just our typical Utahhhh-style powder! Seems plausible with temps hovering near 20 F for most of the storm.

Thanks, Amar, that's good information to know about the sensors; the gauge is now reading 41 inches on the ground and increasing I suspect, in any case, we have lots of snow and the forecasted temps are brutal!