With warmer weather and the road open as far as Tioga Pass from Highway 395, there was quite a bit of human-powered recreation going on at Tioga Pass this weekend. Cars—many with bike racks and ski racks—were at times taking almost all the available parking spots that had been cleared of snow between Ellery Lake and Tioga Pass.

Cyclists enjoy the car-free Tioga Pass Road in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.

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We are all getting bulked up on the white stuff. Yesterday I spent six hours shoveling between my roof and the berm left by the snow plow. It’s a pleasure to see this much snow, and it’s the first time in a while that this much has fallen around Mono Lake. We measured 33.2″ from Monday to Friday this week at our weather station here in Lee Vining. Thursday’s storm (1-21-2010)  set all-time low barometric pressure records for the San Joaquin Valley, to Reno, to Las Vegas. I don’t know if there’s an official barometer for Lee Vining, but the pressure dropped to just above 983 millibars/29.04 inches on one local weather station, the the lowest I’ve ever seen it.

A view to the north from the south-bound lanes of Highway 395, through the middle of Lee Vining.

Howard Schekter, our local Mammoth weatherman, says

“THIS EVENT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO APPROACH OR RIVAL THE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1998 EL NINO EVENT IN CENTRAL CA AND THE JANUARY 1995 TIME FRAME FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.”

The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a Special Weather Statement that includes

“THE COMBINATION OF SNOW AND WIND IN THE SIERRA MAY CAUSE SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL DELAYS AND PERIODIC ROAD CLOSURES.”

The following email we just received from the USGS through our contacts with the Forest Service (original email appears to be from Chris Haile with CalFire). It has been reposted on several other blogs (more…)

Brilliant fall days now have snowy peaks added to the mix after Tuesday’s storm.

WEATHER
It rained 1/4 inch per hour all afternoon and evening on Tuesday, with a snow level around 8,000 feet. The Mono Basin ended up with 2.2–2.8 inches of rain and Tioga Pass ended up with two feet of wet slushy snow that melted rapidly during the warm days that followed. Gorgeous days in the 60s will cool off a bit early next week. Click here for current conditions.

FALL COLOR

One of the best years ever for fall color along lower Lee Vining Creek. Photo by Greg Reis.

Middle and low elevations are peaking right now! This is one of the best years for fall color that I can remember along the Lee Vining Creek trail—so many red dogwoods and roses and fireweed, and yellow aspen, cottonwoods, willows, and serviceberry. There are many green trees also that will be getting colorful next week. There are a lot of tinges of orange amidst the yellow. Snowy peaks and brilliant blue (more…)

Tioga Pass (Hwy 120) reopens today, Thursday October 15, 2009, at noon. It was closed since Monday due to snow. Sonora Pass (Hwy 108) remains closed, as well as the road to Bodie (Hwy 270). On the Tioga Pass Webcam there appears to be less than a foot of snow at the 9,945′ pass.

On Tuesday October 13, 2009, Tioga Pass closed once again due to snow. The major winter storm that brought over 2 inches of rain to Lee Vining and up to 6 feet of snow on Mammoth Mountain dropped about 2 feet (with 3 inches of water content) of heavy wet snow at Tioga Pass Resort that was reportedly (more…)

Fall is here, and Lee Vining is still bustling, especially on weekends. Restaurants are closing, visitor center hours are shortening, and weekend South Tufa tours (at 1pm) are ending for the season on October 18th.

WEATHER
The seasons changed a week ago, with an abrupt end to the 80-degree weather. Another storm (more…)

The first days of April are bringing more California Gulls to Mono Lake and human visitors to the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore (open seven days a week). Today is the opening day for the Scenic Area Visitor Center operated by the US Forest Service (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

WEATHER
Typical spring weather in the Mono Basin is a warm sunny day followed by a snowy one … and this spring is no exception. The first day of spring—at 65 degrees, our warmest day since November—was followed by a weekend that brought a foot of snow to Lee Vining! It was our biggest storm (more…)