[pct-l] Snow

[Postholer]

> happens in the next few weeks. Im going to delay my
> original leave date by about 12 days hoping for a
> good melt on the desert divide.

That's a good idea. Leaving the 2nd week in May you'll probably see little 
or no snow on San Jacinto and Baden-Powell, which of course makes for 
pleasant, dry hiking.

The southern Sierra do look to be about normal. A mid-June start from 
Kennedy Meadows will also increase you chances of pleasant, dry hiking.

'Percentages' can be misleading. If you have 1 inch of snow in Los Angeles 
on February 1st, it's probably over 200% of normal. Kinda meaningless.

Say Casa Vieja in the southern Sierra shows 143% of normal. Everyone goes, 
"Oooh, Aaaah, lots of snow!". But, it's only 5 feet of snow and it's only at 
8,300 feet, which means it's gonna melt out long before you get there.

Same for the Boulder Lakes area in NorCal at 153%. It's 8 feet of snow, but 
most folks won't be there till mid-July, again, it will be long gone.

The percentages have the greatest meaing at the highest elevations where 
it's the coldest At those elevations in the southern Sierra the percentages 
are slightly below normal.

A side note, a warming climate increases increases evaporation on the oceans 
putting more moisture in the atmosphere resulting in increased wet weather. 
More water in the air, more precip.

-postholer

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