Lakewatch

Just in time, a new feature on the Mono Lake Website is a listing of Tioga Pass opening and closing dates since 1933. Little known facts like these will literally be at your fingertips: the average opening date is May 30 (but June 4 in the 1990s); earliest was April 8; and the latest was July 8. This history will aid in breaking through many visitors’ disbelief that they can’t go where they want to go when they want to go, by familiarizing them with the sometimes-inconvenient geography of our area.

This same geography brings precious water to this dry state, and along with other benefits, it more than makes up for the inconvenience. Consistent with predictions for a dry winter in Southern California (see Lakewatch, Fall 1998 Newsletter), the early-January snowpack was about 50% of normal. However, the March 1 snow survey found 6–8 feet of snow at 9–10,000 feet near Tioga Pass, and the water content had risen to 117% of normal for that date (99% of normal for April 1). Consistent with predictions, it was drier to the south, with the Owens Basin ranging between 65% and 100% of normal to date. To the north, however, some basins were reporting almost 200% of normal for March 1.

Mono Lake experienced a fast rise, from 6384.3 feet above sea level on January 1 to 6384.8 on March 1. It inundated the upper Navy Beach warm spring, turned the new South Tufa trail into a mud puddle, and is flirting with the end of the old metal dock at Navy Beach.

The forecast for Southern California through May is drier and warmer than average, so maybe Tioga Pass will open early, and maybe Mono Lake will rise slowly… but is the Mono Basin in Southern California? The divide between south and north is a grey one. Maps put us right in the middle so, as usual, the best way to know the forcast will be to wait and see.