Snow and Weather Reports - Colo High Country

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
    For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
sue personett
Posts: 115
Joined: 5/25/2012
14ers: 58 
13ers: 86
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Snow and Weather Reports - Colo High Country

Post by sue personett »

This website is also good......http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interactive/ ... &js=1&uc=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Namaste
Sue
User avatar
JROSKA
Posts: 544
Joined: 8/19/2010
14ers: 50 
13ers: 5
Trip Reports (11)
 

Re: Snow and Weather Reports - Colo High Country

Post by JROSKA »

peter303 wrote:I hope the word gets out to our out-of-state guests.
The hospitality industry declares Memorial Day the start of summer, which is rarely the case in Colorado high country.
I agree. Seems like this is always the time when we start seeing Beta requests from people itching for any type of summer conditions. And especially this year (which seems like no other in terms of May snowfall), it's important for summer tourists to understand that it's not going to be summer for awhile. Certainly not in June. Possibly, and I admit even this is optimistic, but possibly the 4th of July holiday can be considered the start of the 2015 summer in the high country. I was planning on taking a "newbie" up in mid-June, I've already scrapped that because I know that this June isn't going to be a nice month for first-timers who don't have winter gear. Not to say that tourists can't go up there, but for at least the next month or so, anyone who shows up at a trailhead without standard winter gear, is in for a big surprise.

And it's a concern because so many people let their agenda control them. i.e., "We've had this June trip planned for well over a year now, we are going to do a 14er". That mindset can often lead to disaster in the mountains, especially in winter conditions. I just hope that everyone is mindful of the fact that the calendar is a bit misleading right now, and there may very well be substantial avalanche risk in certain areas well into June.

I think that most people who make beta requests on this site are responsible and thoughtful, and will act accordingly when an active forum member uses terminology such as "ice axe" or "avy gear". I suppose on this site, that's the best we can do to "get the word out", basically provide accurate and realistic accounts of just how much snow has fallen in recent weeks.
“Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.” - Ecclesiastes 1:10-11
User avatar
AlexeyD
Posts: 1286
Joined: 10/28/2013
14ers: 44  4  2 
Trip Reports (3)
 

Re: Snow and Weather Reports - Colo High Country

Post by AlexeyD »

Scott P wrote:At least from what it looked like a month ago. Snowpack is still below normal for most of the Western Slope and from the San Luis Valley westward. It is approaching normal in the Gunnison Basin though. It is slightly above normal for the upper Colorado as well.

Eastern Colorado is faring better and is above normal.
Most, if not all, of the Snotel sites are below 12,000'. At these elevations, much of the snow from these May storms tends to melt away after a few days, so despite the seemingly impressive daily totals, it doesn't really add all that much to existing snowpack, and hence the "percentage of normal" stats. I saw evidence of this first-hand on Quandary this weekend, where the contrast between the rather typical May conditions below treeline, and the very winter-like upper mountain, is striking. I suspect that as we go into June and warmer weather arrives, the (still rather low) snowpack below and near treeline will melt away rather quickly, but the higher mountains will continue to be very snowy for quite some time.
Post Reply