Snow depth on NOHRSH website- Photos of Stampede Pass, WA

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:42 am

NOAA has a website for monitoring the presence of snow across the US.
It is at:

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/

If you drag a box on the map, it will zoom in to show more detail in that area.

It helps if you turn on the Highways, Major Rivers, and County boundaries options in the left column and then hit REFRESH

If you push the query near the upper right corner, the image will redraw with a pointer instead of a cross for the cursor.

If you click on one of the boxes that represent a weather station, it will show the history of that station. The dates of the history can be changed to show any interval in the last five years.

If you zoom in on Interstate 90 about 60 miles east of Seattle, there is a place called Stampede Pass about 4 miles south of Exit 62. It is called SMPW1 on the map. The website shows the snow pack shrank from 135 inches to 123 inches in the last two weeks although the water content did not decrease. The snow just got denser.

We were up there two weeks ago and I took the following photos.

Yes, that is my VMAX between the Kawasaki and the building.

Another picture of my VMAX on the same trip is shown below with my son sitting on it.

Some day I need to get a photo of just the VMAX.

Donnie · Post by **Donnie** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:10 am

Boy I wish we had snow like that here in Pennsylvania. The flowers are popping up here.

Donnie

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:04 pm

The daffodils came up last week here in town but the mountains are still full of snow.

I need to drive west only one hour to find snow 40 inches deep.

I need to drive two hours east to find a hundred inches of snow on the ground this week.

joes · Post by **joes** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:11 am

The snow sensor was reading 164 inches of snow last Sunday.

I need to go up this weekend to take pictures.

Would anyone like to go with me?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:07 pm

Yesterday, the riding was rather sloppy below 2800 feet but it improved significantly above 3000 feet.

The temperature at the parking lot was 54F when we arrived at 11 am.

The groomer had just left the parking lot. By the time we left the parking lot, the other riders had chopped up the trail into 6 inch bumps. The un-groomed trails had 8 to 12 inch bumps. It was uncomfortable on the Vintage machines.

I snapped a couple pictures of the VMAX on the hill.

I'm sorry I have not leveled, cropped and contrasted them before posting them.

The first image is with the camera facing North West toward Snoqualmie Pass.

The next image is taken at the Stampede Pass weather station with the camera facing North.

The weather website indicates 146 inches of snow on the ground at this location.

There is another 8 to 12 inches of snow predicted for this week followed by another dry weekend.

I'm hoping for another great ride on Saturday.

agfirecat · Post by **agfirecat** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:18 pm

alrighty wich one of you rascals rode your sled on top of my house

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:46 am

We were up on the pass again yesterday.
It was 50 degrees and sunny.
Everyone came home with a sunburn.

There were LOTS of tracks over the roof of that building.
Is that YOUR house?

The parking lot was 80% full and the trails were bumpy since the grooming program stopped three weeks ago.

The hill climbing was awesome.
I have attached a photo of the hill where the more experienced riders were riding.

My VMAX did not have enough track to get up that hill this weekend.
It ran well enough but my traction was marginal.

I thought those adrenaline junkies were over the top.
It took almost a minute for the snow to stop moving after each run up the hill.

Washington Department of Transportation closed Westbound Interstate 90 for two hours for avalanche control on the south facing slopes. This hill climb was on a north facing slope so it was more stable.

How much track and suspension will fit on an '86 VMAX?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sat May 10, 2008 1:34 pm

This is a housework weekend and we are staying home to do spring cleaning.

The website is reporting the snow depth dropped from 129 inches to 115 inches over the last seven days.

I am planning a trip up there next weekend and I hope to get more photos.

The website shows 50 inches of snow in the parking lot area, but there was less than 36 inches two weeks ago.

Here is a picture of the my 16 year old neighbor on my VMAX with Mount Rainier in the background. Mount Rainier is barely visible in the background above the ski tips, not above the seat.

I guess we will need to see what the next week brings

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Mon May 19, 2008 12:40 am

We went up to Stampede Pass again this weekend.

The VMAX handlebars broke about 4 inches above the clamps about 50 feet from the trailer. It is tough to ride a snowmobile onto a trailer without handlebars.

The NOHRSH website says there are about 100 inches of snow up there now, but it looks like only about 60 inches.

The snow was disappearing rapidly at the parking lot. We parked in 12 inches of snow, but it was 12 inches of water when we returned. We had to wade out to the car to move it to higher ground so we could load up without standing in 32 degree snow melt water.

The snowmobiles had terrible low end throttle response but ran better once they came up to normal RPM. My guess is the 70 to 80 degree ambient temperature was making the low speed mixture quite rich. Our '92 venture would not go over 68 MPH down a 5 % grade. It went 75 the last time we were there when the temperature was in the low 50s.

The snow was firm at the top of the hill but sloppy down at the bottom.

We needed to cross about 10 feet of standing water and 100 feet of gravel when leaving the parking area. It was up to 30 feet of standing water and 150 feet of gravel when we returned to the trailer.

The restroom was accessible this trip (17 May 2008).

It was inaccessible the previous trip on 26 April 2008.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:56 am

We went up to Stampede Pass again this weekend.

The snow is getting patchy under the power lines, but there is plenty between the trees.

I shot the following pictures at the weather station, weather station parking lot and the power lines respectively.

The next image shows the stumps showing through and the bare spots at the left of the image.

The weather station reported 48 inches of snow last week and it was losing 2 to 4 inches a day.

2 to 4 inches of new snow is predicted for tomorrow night.

Our snow season will be over soon.

agfirecat · Post by **agfirecat** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:29 pm

thats awsome your still riding and its june it got up to 92 today here in central new york .we had a massive lightning storm here last night it lasted 3 hours

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:51 am

Here is some data I got from the Portland weather and climate center.

Note that the water since October is just about normal, but the accumulation values are very high. I believe this is because this spring has been cooler than normal.

United States Natural Resources Water and Climate Center
Department of Conservation Portland, Oregon
Agriculture Service

S N O W - P R E C I P I T A T I O N U P D A T E

Based on Mountain Data from NRCS SNOTEL Sites
As of FRIDAY: JUNE 6 , 2008
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASIN ELEV. SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT TOTAL PRECIPITATION
Data Site Name (Ft) % %
Current Average Avg Current Average Avg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON

WHITE, GREEN, PUYALLUP

BURNT MOUNTAIN 4200 -M .1 * -M 69.6 *
CAYUSE PASS 5240 58.0 -M * 91.1 -M *
CORRAL PASS 6000 30.6 19.5 157 56.2 55.9 101
COUGAR MOUNTAIN 3200 18.4 1.2 1533 89.5 89.3 100
HUCKLEBERRY CREEK 2000 -M .0 * 37.6 41.6 90
LYNN LAKE 3900 43.0 -M * 98.5 -M *
MORSE LAKE 5400 54.2 27.5 197 78.9 78.7 100
MOWICH 3150 .0 .0 100 41.8 51.6 81
PARADISE 5120 90.4 56.8 159 126.7 105.6 120
SAWMILL RIDGE 4630 32.6 -M * 76.5 -M *
STAMPEDE PASS 3860 35.9 13.5 266 83.2 84.5 98
----- -----
Basin wide percent of average 194 101

CEDAR, SNOQUALMIE, SKYKOMISH, TOLT

ALPINE MEADOWS 3500 -M 27.9 * 128.0 128.5 100
MEADOWS PASS 3500 22.5 .2 11250 -M 88.6 *
MOUNT GARDNER 3000 10.4 .0 93.8 96.6 97
OLALLIE MEADOWS 3700 58.5 26.1 224 119.7 116.6 103
REX RIVER 4000 47.0 4.4 1068 97.6 96.0 102
SKOOKUM CREEK 3920 37.6 1.2 3133 -M 121.6 *
STAMPEDE PASS 3860 35.9 13.5 266 83.2 84.5 98
STEVENS PASS 4070 19.4 6.2 313 80.1 79.4 101
TINKHAM CREEK 3070 -M 1.5 * -M 99.1 *
----- -----
Basin wide percent of average 428 100

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:54 am

The forecast for tonight is posted below.

This morning they were predicting 12 to 20 inches of new snow this afternoon.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
338 PM PDT FRI JUN 6 2008

OLYMPICS-WEST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES AND PASSES-
WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES-
330 PM PDT FRI JUN 6 2008

...SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE OLYMPICS AND CASCADES THIS
EVENING...

SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE OLYMPICS AND THE
WEST SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CASCADES THIS EVENING.
FREEZING LEVELS WILL HOVER AROUND 4000 TO 5000 FT WITH HIGHWAY
MOUNTAIN PASS TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER TO MID 30S. VERY LITTLE SNOW
IS EXPECTED AT PASS LEVELS AT STEVENS...SNOQUALMIE AND WHITE PASSES.

HIGHER SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ABOVE
5000 FT. HIKERS AND TRAVELERS IN THE HIGH BACK COUNTRY MAY ENCOUNTER
HEAVY SHOW SHOWERS AT TIMES WITH POOR VISIBILITY...GUSTY WINDS AND
COLD TEMPERATURES. SNOW SHOWERS WILL DECREASE BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

PLEASE VISIT THE NORTHWEST WEATHER AND AVALANCHE CENTER AT
http://WWW.NWAC.US FOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS CONCERNING AVALANCHE DANGER.

Post by **tyler440** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:07 pm

are you trying to make us jealous???!?!!?!?!?! hahaha

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:28 am

It has been an elusive spring.

Paradise Washington got 9 inches of snow on Friday and 15 inches of snow Tuesday.

You can check it out at:
http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/interactive/h ... &y=46.7815

You will need to enter the dates of 2008 June 3 and 2008 June 11 to get it to show the historical data rather than current data.