2014/15 Mt. Hood/Mt. Bachelor

[TBS]

I'd be up for that. Got a spare bedroom and some free day passes for Northern mags making the pilgrimage.

[jonesy]

There will be Carnage and Mayhem.

[TBS]

Is that a bad thing?
ETA - don't you have some 225 Olins in the rafters?

[The AD]

This northern PNWer will be at the Central Oregon volcano resort 3/27-30. I'm assuming at this point I'll be using skis shorter than 215 cm.

[jonesy]

Party favors provided.

[EaglesPDX]

This northern PNWer will be at the Central Oregon volcano resort 3/27-30. I'm assuming at this point I'll be using skis shorter than 215 cm.

Lots of water skis are 215 cm, a wakeboard would shorter.

Acquaintance who lives in Bend just got back from Kicking Horse, won't ski Bachelor too little, too warm. Kicking Horse has 25% snowpack vs. the single digits in OR but all bodes ill for OR in the summer as Columbia River gets most of its flow from Canadian snowpack.

[k2skier112]

Since ski areas have been around, this will be in the top 3 worst years, if the base doesn't increase more than 2004-2005.

[::: :::]

Dams can't make water that doesn't exist. River will get 20% of normal water flow this year

I was under the impression that precip was close to normal, just no snow due to warm temps

[jonesy]

Actually Bachelor is skiing well. No rocks or bare sports and pleasent temps. After skiing there are plenty of other diversions.

[k2skier112]

I was under the impression that precip was close to normal, just no snow due to warm temps

This is correct, except March is ending up dryer so far...

[nwslider]

Cliff mass covered the summer water issue for Seattle:

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/0...-this.html?m=1

Seattle's water doesn't come from the Columbia but same idea

[jonesy]

SEATTLE (AP) — Warm temperatures in February have taken a toll on winter snowpack in the Cascade Mountains and other areas in the West.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service said Wednesday that nearly a third of monitoring sites in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada reported the lowest snowpack ever measured as of March 1, and some sites didn't have snow.

Snowpack in Nevada, Utah and Idaho also fell farther below normal.

Snow that falls in the mountains during the winter typically melts slowly during spring and summer, providing water for the region. A lack of snowpack can lead to drought.

While snowpack has been below normal in states such as Oregon and Washington, there's also been plenty of rain. Some reservoirs have benefited from the rainy winter and are at or near normal for this time of year.

[irratator]

Actually Bachelor is skiing well. No rocks or bare sports and pleasent temps. After skiing there are plenty of other diversions.

x2

[EaglesPDX]

I was under the impression that precip was close to normal, just no snow due to warm temps

Timing is everything. Snow is like storing water for slow release. When it comes down as rain, it just runs off and is mostly lost. And the temperature of what water they are able to save becomes a problem. Too warm and it kills a lot of the wildlife, particularly the salmon. Columbia River is low right now, a level that would normally be seen in August.

[Tap]

x2

X3

[Tap]

Timing is everything. Snow is like storing water for slow release. When it comes down as rain, it just runs off and is mostly lost. And the temperature of what water they are able to save becomes a problem. Too warm and it kills a lot of the wildlife, particularly the salmon. Columbia River is low right now, a level that would normally be seen in August.

Here's a prayer that they can regulate the temp of the D via Pelton Dam and keep it cool

[The AD]

X3

Yeah, this looks awful.

[jonesy]

Crushing eaglepdx dispair and discontent. Reminds me of someone else. Hope bobby comes down for your event.

[puma]

Yeah, this looks awful.

I have to figure out a plan to relocate to Central Oregon. (For many more reasons than the above pics...but yeah, that looks like a good time!)

[jonesy]

Life is good on the right side of the mountains.

[Jimi_Lee]

Just wanted to add to some of the good responses about drought and snowpack in the NW.

The National Water and Climate Center (US agency part of NRCS part of USDA), have compiled SNOTEL measurements and are generating maps that recreate snow volume for different watersheds in the Western US. This map compares the estimated snow volume of today (March 12) against the median of all March 12ths between 1981 and 2010. This year sucks!

From what I have heard, precip here has been okay, the reservoirs are in good shape, the Columbia has such an enormous watershed that it will be fine. Smaller rivers, particularly those that supply water for agricultural areas (thinking of you Southern and Eastern Oregon) will be hurting. The aridity now is already a concern for forest fires, but hey, those were already happening in CA at this time last year. Reports in Geophysical Research Letters relates the combination of warm weather and aridity in CA over the last 4 years to having a 1% chance of happening every 1200 years.

\rant
I'm going mountain biking

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/...mal_update.pdf

[Tap]

We class that shit up with the sisal rug.

[TBS]

We class that shit up with the sisal rug.

West village chic...

[Patarero]

Here's a prayer that they can regulate the temp of the D via Pelton Dam and keep it cool

Exactly.

Gonna be some bony rivers for fall runs.

[EaglesPDX]

From what I have heard, precip here has been okay, the reservoirs are in good shape, the Columbia has such an enormous watershed that it will be fine.

Unfortunately the Columbia watershed is 25%-10% of normal and it's going to be year of record low water levels and record high temp for the water which is an ecological disaster for salmon and lots of other life aquatic.

Columbia is already at unseasonably low levels. While it's been a 97% of normal precip year, it's the snow that is the water storage. Not the dams which have power and salmon flush obligations that mean that can't store up the winter water and depend on the snow melt form the huge Columbia basin.

Here's what Rogue River should look like (left) and how it is now.