Attachment 92118
EPIC! Has the identity of Mr. Canyonman ever been revealed? If not, it may be this dude right here...ran into him in Mystery. Real impressive guy. This was in '13.
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Attachment 92118
EPIC! Has the identity of Mr. Canyonman ever been revealed? If not, it may be this dude right here...ran into him in Mystery. Real impressive guy. This was in '13.
Warning, CanyonMan is not to be confused with Canyonero, of whom @rockgremlin strikes a resemblance, known to pose in underwear in the canyons
Snowpack levels exceed 150% for most of the entire state of Utah. Considering we're only half way through April, I'd say this is a good news/bad news type situation.
Good news: We're in great shape water wise. Our reservoirs will be refilled and replenished, and some of the heat is off for the immediate future.
Bad news: Over half the state has over 150% snowpack, and it's going to rapidly warm up in the next month. This = flooding. I'd say if you live in Santa Clara or anywhere else in close proximity to the Virgin river you'd better head to higher ground. Too bad they don't issue flood insurance to those folks.
Attachment 92476
Yeah. I agree. I went to Moab last weekend and I was impressed with how much snow was up at Soldier Summit. I've never seen that much snow up there at this time of year before. It was impressive. Also, I've never seen snow on the Book Cliffs south of Price at this time of year, but it was there this year. Also, the La Sal mountains looked great. Tons of snow up there.
252% for Moab area (SE Utah) - wow!Quote:
Originally Posted by rockgremlin
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What are the predictions for Lake Powell levels this year?
The snowpack is very healthy up high in the cottonwoods right now. Alta and the Bird both have 170" bases with another foot or 2 coming in the next 72 hours. This week is the last mid week skiing at Alta with them shutting completely down next Sunday. They will probably still have a 150" base when they close. The bird probably has a chance to be spinning lifts on the 4th of July. Yesterday was the first weekend day that I sorta considered not skiing. The mountain still won out, but I think Wednesday will be my last mid week skiing this year and I probably only have 4 or 5 weekend ski days left in me. I guess it's time to dust the bike off. What's the over under on when Crest is rideable this year?
Just for fun I looked at my Strava from last year to see what I was able to ride. Mueller Park is about 5 minutes from my house and work so I ride it quite a bit. Last year at this time I was making it up about a mile past the rock to the spring bridge before getting snowed out. The first day I made it all the was May 4th. I talked with some trail runners a week ago and they said the snow was thigh deep about a mile before the rock. What a difference a year makes.
Lake Powell will not see a huge rise as they are going to send a huge portion of water down to Lake Mead, which is nearing crisis lake levels. There is a thread on hear somewhere about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sombeech
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceaxe
Regardless, a few weeks ago the meteorologist at KSL said that Lake Powell would likely see an increase of roughly 35' - 40' this year.
We could start a pool poll.
I say it goes to 3627.00
I spent a lot of time on the lake in 2011 and rises of 12-16" per day were happening.
Current level is 3568.71 as of April 14.
My guess is it will top out at 3622.5' -- which should be enough to open up Antelope Point, but still about 30' short of Hite Marina levels (3650'). :cry1:
When was the last time that Mead and Powell were both full? Has it happened since 1983?
35' to 40' is about average.... so it looks like they will be sending a lot of excess water downstream to Mead.Quote:
Originally Posted by rockgremlin
Yeah, full pool happened several times in the 80's. But 83 was the only time the spillways required opening. I believe the spillways were opened once more after their repair as a test.Quote:
Originally Posted by uintafly
FWIW, My company did some of the repair on the spillway. Most people have no clue how close we came to losing that dam in 83. The concrete lining in the spillways blew out and than the river began eating into the dam abutments... scary shit, I got to go down in the spillway and see the fissures the river carved and they were so deep you couldn't see the bottom.
I was also on the lake in 83 when the spillways were open. We drove over to the dam one day just to watch. The water spraying out was orange so it was obvious something was wrong.
:cool2:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceaxe
:ahhh::jaw-dropping::eek3:
Yeah that is scary! Who was the engineering firm/s who were contracted to design the dam? Do you recall which construction company built it?
This will answer many questions....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPcrccxcNsI
The Emerald Mile is a great book and goes into a lot of details on the issues with the dam in 1983. Highly recommended
Quote:
Originally Posted by rockgremlin
Something funky is going on here. Current level (April 24) is reported as 3569.24. -- So it has only gone up by 0.53 feet in the last 10 days?!
http://lakepowell.water-data.com/
May 1st. Anybody got snow?
We did yesterday afternoon in Brigham. Also, it was snowing in Cache Valley yesterday. It's cold this morning too.
Iron county got snowQuote:
Originally Posted by accadacca
Quote:
Originally Posted by accadacca
Yup - half inch at my place.
WTF? It's May!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b9519ee9d7.jpg
^^^Global Warming (I mean) Climate Change...
This is why you plant your tomatoes Mother's Day weekend, not before. :cool2:
Just checking the Snotel and SWE for Utah and saw that SE Utah is at 1669% above normal. But for a desert where there isn't a lot of water, a few inches of rain could do something like that...
Anyway...
Attachment 92583
Snotels:
Kolob (Near the Subway in Zion: Snow Depth, 58" SWE: 26" (of liquid water).
La Sal Mtns (near Moab): Snow Depth: 31", SWE: 13" (of liquid water)
Snowbird Ski Resort: Snow Depth: 98", SWE: 51" (of liquid water)
Ben Lomond, Ogden: Snow Depth: 66", SWE: 35" (of liquid water)
Wheeler Peak, Nevada (11,000 feet, in Great Basin NP): Snow Depth:, SWE: 23" (of liquid water)
Leavit Lake, California (9,600 feet, in Sierra Nevada): Snow Depth: 164" (!!!), SWE: 77" (of liquid water)
Thumb Divide, Wyoming (7900 feet, in Yellowstone NP, near Old Faithful): Snow Depth: 32"
My understanding is that those who measure snow pack don't really pay attention to it after April 1 or 15th, I can't remember which. What those numbers, I think, tell us is that the snow is still in the mountains and not melting as quickly as normal. If it heats up fast, it could get interesting in some parts of the state.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Card
I've spent the last 3 weekends in the Circleville area, mapping and pre-running a route for an 18 May Poker Run. I can tell you the snow melt is in full force and huge lakes are forming at elevation ~(9000'). Once those overflow, the run-off down the mountain will be tremendous!
Also, where its normally dry this time of year, there are still huge 2-3' deep snow drifts. Fingers crossed between warm & rain, those drifts melt away!
I heard it was from October 1 through May 5th for the “snow year”.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Card
Yes indeed. A lot of water across the US in the mountains still.
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This time of the year I'm nearly always already up AF Canyon doing trail work and chainsawing out the deadfall. This year SR-92 above the Pine Hollow gate isn't any where near ready to drive up and there's still 4.5' of snow at the summit. It's not looking like we'll have the trails ready to open for Memorial Day Weekend.
The same could be said for most high alpine areas of Utah. This of course means that Memorial Day weekend is going to be an absolute zoo at places like Moab, Arches, Capitol Reef, and The Swell. I mean, they already are pretty overrun on holiday weekends, but it's going to be even more so this year because so many other options are still closed and/or inaccessible. :frustrated:Quote:
Originally Posted by tallsteve
I can report that good turns are still to be had up high. Did a little Sunday jaunt up Mt Baldy and down main chute. Hopefully enough snow to last us into July. Timing is everything this time of year though and we were a little early and it was still a little icy on the climb and not full on corn mode yet on the way down. Oh well, still better than church.
Attachment 92584
Attachment 92585
Attachment 92586
Quote:
Originally Posted by uintafly
LOL what isn't?
Utah is drought free thanks to 'fantastic' snowpack — but as temps warm, will rivers flood?
https://www.ksl.com/article/46549941...l-rivers-flood
On Wednesday 5/8 I was up on the Markagunt Plateau on my way over to Alton from Cedar City -- most spots have up to 4+ feet of snow on the ground still, and Navajo Lake is still covered with a sheet of ice.
Still here...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3ff907b1fb.jpg
Richfield Utah on May 21st.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...558d8b03a2.jpg
Peeps in line at Snowbird on May 18th.
No thanksQuote:
Originally Posted by accadacca
Driving over Soldier Summit en route to Price this morning was an absolute blizzard.
Been a long time since I can recall a Spring like this. It's almost June for cryin' out loud. I'm guessing many folks' Memorial Day plans have been rained out.