SNOW - Questions, Forecasts & Reports About Snow

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:05 pm

The rain didn't come like it was supposed to last night. Today, we're waiting for the big dump. Waiting, waiting. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up and see white San Gabriel mountain tops?

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 4:21 pm

Forecast seems to change constantly on this one....but its coming, getting dark now in Burbank, lite rain.....

Post by **Taco** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:12 am

Spent the morning at Smith Rock, got very light rain, picked up after I left.

Cy Kaicener · Post by **Cy Kaicener** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:17 pm

Snow levels -
http://www.snowforecast.com/MtBaldy

Post by **Taco** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:40 am

Thanks Cy!

Post by **Taco** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:54 am

Looking from the good ol' Mt Wilson Towercam.... LOTSA SNOW DOWN LOW!!!!!

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm#imagetop

YAYUH!!!

Post by **Taco** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:48 am

What a beautiful scene outside... amazing. I'm off to give Alpine Canyon up South Mt Hawkins a shot. Hopefully the roads are open!

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:30 am

Anyone been up the crest highway recently? I'm thinking about doing some snow shoeing this Saturday at Mt. Waterman.

The Cal Trans site http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/sr2 says the road is open to Islip Saddle -- can anyone confirm that the road is open? They're still listing "chains required" which is hard for me to imagine this many days after a storm so I'm not sure their site is up to date.

If you've been up, how's the snow? I imaging melting pretty fast in the day, but hopefully there's enough to do some shoeing at Mt. Waterman? Any snow conditions info much appreciated!!

luciano136 · Post by **luciano136** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:19 pm

They listed the "chains or snow tires required" a while ago too. It was a joke! A patch of snow here and there. I wouldn't worry about it. I've never seen them enforce it anyway...

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:20 pm

I can recall one time a few years ago when they were making everyone put on chains at the ranger station at the intersection of Rte. 2 and the Angeles Forest Highway. But conditions can't be anywhere near that bad now. The snow stopped last Sunday!

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:25 pm

Thanks, Luciano and Alan; my thoughts exactly.

Do you guys know if they're plowing all the way to Mt. Waterman? I know they always used to when the two ski areas were operating, but I'm not sure now.

I guess if I encounter a snow gate near 3 points or Cloudburst Summit, we could just start hiking from there although it would be nice to get to where we can 'shoe right away.

HJ

He219 · Post by **He219** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:18 am

Alas, the best winter for SoCal in years!

With this new system we should be topping recent records for local snowfall, at least back a few decades.

Looking forward to some awesome winter hiking, climbing, mountaineering, snowshoeing, skiig and boarding for all the local mountains.

Just be conscious of the avalanche hazzard, don't go alone, notify people of your routes, carry a compass or gps to find your way, carry a phone and pack gear for an emergency overnight with extra outerwear to be safe.

The I-5 has been closed over the Grapevine and even the I-15 was closed for a while ...

Couple of snapshots from the most recent system:

TDR told me that snow fell in Monrovia and a buddy sent me a picture from his phone of snow in Santa Barbara.

Anybody good snow reports?

hvydrt · Post by **hvydrt** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:27 am

the resorts in big bear are reporting 7 inches

He219 · Post by **He219** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:30 am

hvydrt wrote:the resorts in big bear are reporting 7 inches

Awesome!

I'd wager that the San Gabriel Mountains got more snow than that because they are more in the path of this system.

hvydrt · Post by **hvydrt** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:04 am

Baldy snow report:

SNOW REPORT for Friday Jan 25, 2008 update @ 5:30a.m.
We received 12" to 18" of new snow last night and it is still snowing and blowing very hard at this time.

Post by **HikeUp** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:34 am

Following comment seen on the Mt. Wilson Cam page this morning...

Solar observer comment posted on January 25, 2008 at 8:24 P.S.T.
Observatory weather: mixture of frozen rain and snow; fog; breezy; 31° F. At least 2 feet of snow on theground and much higher drifts.

Thursday morning (4-5 am'ish) there was a hail storm in Monrovia which could have been the source of the "snow in Monrovia" comment, but I don't know for sure.

Post by **Taco** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:37 am

This is awesome!

I had a dream last night that I was in the San Gabriels with my buddies, and it cleared up after this big storm... and everything had snow except the San Gabriels! All we had were big streaks of ice from rain.

Can't wait to see the mountains through the clouds. I can see some snow through breaks lower on the mountains, that's all though.

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:12 pm

It is not snowing, the news is all lies

. The truth is we are going to receive between 2-6 inches of rain for the rain year...according to the professionals...La Nina!

Or how about the widespread one where the snow level was going to drop to 2000 ft(now revised to 5500ft) just a few days ago....

But hey, I think this wacky start is awesome too....keep it up....then there will be snow well into the year...

406 · Post by **406** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:37 pm

Just bought a club card from the Mt. Baldy Resort, so hopefully the snow year will continue to be good. Haven't got one since '05 winter. Excited for some steep & deep resort skiing tomorrow. I'm sure traffic will be a mess.

Can anyone in the LA area see the snow level elevation? Must be around 3000, from the reports about the freeways.

Maybe we will get lucky and the storm will stay cold on Saturday and rain will not melt all the snow...

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:17 pm

406 wrote:Can anyone in the LA area see the snow level elevation? Must be around 3000, from the reports about the freeways.

I am in the northwest corner of Pasadena and am looking out at snow down to somewhere in the 2000-2500' range.

duelmen3 · Post by **duelmen3** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:29 pm

Hi to all! Joined this board last week. The Glendora Ridge Road has been closed from GMR to Baldy Rd due to snow. I bike ride GMR on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays early in the morning and it has been very cold on the northern exposures in the early morning hours this last week with some patchy black ice thrown in for fun on the descent. Let it snow!!!!!

Gary

Post by **HikeUp** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:26 pm

406 wrote:Can anyone in the LA area see the snow level elevation? Must be around 3000, from the reports about the freeways.

Here is a picture taken from the train platform at the Gold Line's Allen station in Pasadena on Friday afternoon (2008-01-25) around 4pm. Snow level is at about 4500' depending on which mountain you're on.

Looking up at Henninger Flats with the snow covered upper reaches of Eaton Canyon (south side of Mt. Wilson) beyond. Mt. Wilson and Harvard are in the clouds on the right side and Occidental can be seen near the left side with some clouds on it's western flank. Mt. Yale (4760') is the knob on the far right.

Post by **Taco** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:18 pm

Welcome, Gary!

And thanks for the picture, HikeUp!

He219 · Post by **He219** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:54 am

406 wrote:Just bought a club card from the Mt. Baldy Resort, so hopefully the snow year will continue to be good. Haven't got one since '05 winter. Excited for some steep & deep resort skiing tomorrow. I'm sure traffic will be a mess.

Beautiful Saturday morning!!
I hope 406 didn't get catch the Baldy Tunnel mess:

Crash Blocks Traffic On Mount Baldy Road
TRAFFIC: Plan Your Route
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
A traffic crash on Mount Baldy Road near the tunnel has blocked the roadway, and more than 100 cars will need to be turned around, the California Highway Patrol reports.

This road is the sole access to the Mount Baldy Village area, including the Mount Baldy Ski Area.

We will bring you more details as they become available.

He219 · Post by **He219** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:18 am

Just hiked up to the old Nike/Hercules Missile base on top of the Brea/La Puente Hills; took these shots:

He219 · Post by **He219** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:30 am

Not sure, but I think I saw the snow on Gorman area next to the Hollywood sign:

North face of Santiago/Mojeska Peak, from Corona yesterday:

Also saw snow on the west face of Santiago on my way home; mostly gone this morning.

He219 · Post by **He219** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:34 am

HikeUp wrote:Following comment seen on the Mt. Wilson Cam page this morning...
.

Brilliant HikeUp!
Brilliant!

He219 · Post by **He219** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:36 am

Mount Baldy Road Reopens After Traffic Crash
TRAFFIC: Plan Your Route
MOUNT BALDY VILLAGE (CBS) ―
Heavy traffic was headed for the best local snow in a decade at the small ski resort perched just above Claremont, officials said Saturday.

Officials at Mount Baldy Ski Area reported that avalanche clearance work had been finished by sunrise, with ski patrol members triggering small snow-slides using their own skis in exposed areas.

A traffic crash involving a Jeep that went off the road blocked things for an hour Saturday, forcing more than 100 cars to be turned back just north of a tunnel linking the resort to the outside world.

But the California Highway Patrol said the road had been reopened at 9:30 a.m. Chain controls were in effect, however.

Snow on Mount Baldy and nearby Mount San Antonio glistened over the entire L.A. basin, as blue skies and sun covered the area.

Now I wish I was there.

glamisking · Post by **glamisking** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:02 pm

Snowshoed up the ski hut trail last night with a friend. It took 5 hours to break trail to the ski hut where we camped for the night. It was 2-3 feet of soft stuff and the clear sky made it possible to do it by moon light. It was awesome! Our return trip was a totally different story. There was a snow shoe highway and stuff is melting fast below 8,000 feet. This next storm should freshen it up and give some else the honor and head ache of breaking a new trail. I will never forget this amazing trip. The conditions were perfect.

He219 · Post by **He219** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:05 pm

glamisking wrote:Snowshoed up the ski hut trail last night with a friend. It took 5 hours to break trail to the ski hut where we camped for the night. It was 2-3 feet of soft stuff and the clear sky made it possible to do it by moon light. It was awesome! Our return trip was a totally different story. There was a snow shoe highway and stuff is melting fast below 8,000 feet. This next storm should freshen it up and give some else the honor and head ache of breaking a new trail. I will never forget this amazing trip. The conditions were perfect.

Awesome, did you take any pix?