Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Snow Surveys

The California Water Resources website has a lot of snow survey information:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snow/current/snow/

First, the "Snow Course" menu will help you find the location of interest. Each area has a three-digit code, which is used for searches. The Snow Courses are areas of major water shed interest (drainages). The snow sensors and physical surveys are usually in meadows, not on mountain summits like Whitney.

Thanks. Also some interesting info on snowpack here:

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/data/drought

Those of us 3,000 miles away who have gotten permits for late June would be very interested in any observations by the locals as to snowpack / snowmelt, and the likelihood of a clear train by July 1!

I like the overall water content graphs on this page: CDEC: California Snow Water Content. The third graph at the bottom is the southern section of the Sierra.

It currently shows definitely below average numbers. If we don't get anything significant between now and springtime, people will be hiking the switchbacks up the Whitney trail by mid June, and maybe earlier.

Would you suggest keeping a lottery date of June 11th or trying for another date? I'm looking to avoid as much snow as possible.