The Winter That Wasn't?

T

Togwotee

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Here in Eastern Oregon we have not had any winter yet. we're getting rain but it's too warm to snow, I've lived here my entire life and never seen anything like it. looking at the Snotel map it doesn't look like much of the west is any different.

The wildlife is fat and happy and it's late enough now even a big change in the weather pattern isn't likely to give the herds any real trouble. that's the good part of it, the bad part is spring runoff may be dismal. and worse yet I have a 20k sled I snow checked with zero miles on it and no improvement in sight.

Anyone see winter yet where you are? it looks possible we may have the lowest winterkill losses ever.
 
nfh said:
Take that sled out west!!

I know our mountains are at 85% snow pack but in low lands its pretty much a spring type weather with no moisture
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It would be east actually. we usually go back to West Yellowstone and Togwotee every year, and hopefully will this year. but pretty skimpy on the snow so far.
 
Togwotee said:
It would be east actually. we usually go back to West Yellowstone and Togwotee every year, and hopefully will this year. but pretty skimpy on the snow so far.
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I’ve road grand Mesa once and the flattops once. Both areas are severely lacking. There is still decent snow to be found but we need a change soon! I’m about to pick a new sled up for myself and am somewhat wondering if i should…
 
Central Oregon relatively the same as eastern OR. Nice to see the herds getting a break but worried about water. Of course we've said that many a year and catch up in Feb through first part of May.
 
Togwotee said:
It would be east actually. we usually go back to West Yellowstone and Togwotee every year, and hopefully will this year. but pretty skimpy on the snow so far.
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I'm use to saying back west. Good catch.

Always got Cooke city and the bighorns to ride here to
 
According to the snotels they suck too. hard to say sometimes it's better than they indicate.

I'm not too worried about the creeks and rivers, all the snow we should be getting is coming in the form of rain and sinking in. the run off for irrigation reservoirs worries me though it needs to come off fast in the spring.

Yes there's still time and yes we've played catch up at the end for sure. but I think as far as the game herds go the odds are in their favor to skate through this one. even if it comes late they'll survive it.
 
Was driving roads in unit 44 today that Ive never been able to go down after mid November. Shockingly little snow up there
 
Togwotee said:
Here in Eastern Oregon we have not had any winter yet. we're getting rain but it's too warm to snow, I've lived here my entire life and never seen anything like it. looking at the Snotel map it doesn't look like much of the west is any different.

The wildlife is fat and happy and it's late enough now even a big change in the weather pattern isn't likely to give the herds any real trouble. that's the good part of it, the bad part is spring runoff may be dismal. and worse yet I have a 20k sled I snow checked with zero miles on it and no improvement in sight.

Anyone see winter yet where you are? it looks possible we may have the lowest winterkill losses ever.
Click to expand...
A foot or two on the peaks here in Western Montana but none in the valleys to speak of. Most Ski lodges are "kinda" open but I'm pretty sure nobody's skiing in deep powder.

We still got January and I've seen it put down some serious snow here. Our forecast for next week says possible wetter than normal conditions, but we'll see.
 
It's pretty slim in western Colorado. Total opposite from the last couple of years. I haven't even started my sleds yet. Some of the dealers are sitting on a bunch of 20 thousand dollar sleds right now.
Our wildlife are riding the gravy train so far.
 
FRICKEN ALASKANS Are Seeding The Clouds It Looks Like!

SS! said:
Meanwhile in paradise:

The snowiest season-to-date for Anchorage!

Anchorage residents are living in snowfall history archives, with this being the all-time snowiest ever winter-to-date for the city that sits between an inlet and mountains! 70 inches and counting, as more snow is expected over the week. Storms will be moving through southern parts of the state...
www.alaskasnewssource.com www.alaskasnewssource.com
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I lived in CA for my entire life....until two years ago. I was also in the farming business so rainfall and weather was a way of life. There is still time for winter to arrive and I sure hope it does. We seem to be in the middle of a deep el Nino pattern and only speaking from the CA perspective, they've finally received some decent precipitation over the past few weeks. Some of the best storms can come in Jan-Feb and even into March so fingers crossed.
 
IMG_3713.jpeg
 
From the NWS today.

"LONG TERM (After 00Z Friday)...Our continuous moisture train will
persist Friday headed into the weekend and will only be bolstered
Saturday/Sunday by a passing area of low pressure within this
northwest flow. An incredible amount of snowfall awaits upslope
regions of the Wasatch Mountains, the Bear River Range and western
Uintas. Snow totals over a 3 day period (Friday through Sunday) are
forecast between 5 and 8 feet. Yes, feet. This is so much snow that
some of the color scales aren't able to compute it in certain
forecast models. This really will be a remarkable snow event for the
mountains."
 
So much for the winter that wasn’t. Looks like western Colorado is going to get hammered during the next week. Starting today.
 
middlefork said:
From the NWS today.

"LONG TERM (After 00Z Friday)...Our continuous moisture train will
persist Friday headed into the weekend and will only be bolstered
Saturday/Sunday by a passing area of low pressure within this
northwest flow. An incredible amount of snowfall awaits upslope
regions of the Wasatch Mountains, the Bear River Range and western
Uintas. Snow totals over a 3 day period (Friday through Sunday) are
forecast between 5 and 8 feet. Yes, feet. This is so much snow that
some of the color scales aren't able to compute it in certain
forecast models. This really will be a remarkable snow event for the
mountains."
Click to expand...


Where did you find this, I can't find it on their site.
 
Winter was missing in SE MT for the last few months. Made it's arrival today. Cold wind and snow showers. Predicted to have three days this weekend of better than -20.
 
Togwotee said:
That's true, a lot of snow forecast for the next week.

But it's late enough that with the mild weather up to this point heavy winter losses are unlikely. not impossible, but unlikely.
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It's hard to have a heavy winter mortality when there's no deer. After 4 trips to the winter ranges, I'm guessing no less than 70% loss from last winter. Maybe more? IDK. All I know is there's no freaking deer. It's a sad state of affairs.
 
18 below this morning here in NW Mt. Six or seven inches of snow in the valley. Glad we got at least some snow cover before the cold spell.

Keep your faucet dripping!!
 
Way to go Tog! Oregon is getting hammered, but like stated earlier there are no deer to make a difference except for a few in towns with broken legs from being hit by cars.
 
- 6 here this morning and snowing. supposed to clear off tomorrow so I'll finally get to see if my new sled runs.
40's next week and 50's the week after they're saying. so that will work east and warm the entire west up. tough for a week or two but it won't last long it looks like.
 
Where are you seeing 40’s and 50’s? It’s single digits and low 20’s at all the forecasts I see
 
Eastern Oregon. generally moves east a long ways but cold air from the north can obviously change things.

NOAA long range forecast shows CO with normal temps Feb-April and the rest of the west above normal. we shall see but the chances of above normal winterkill are low if they're close to right.
 
Funny, the Internet talks about how CO is going to get hammered, AGAIN, in another storm....they talk like we've been getting a bunch of snow.

I'm still waiting. I bet that we are up to about an inch, so far, in Grand Junction
 
Just looked at Snotel, it was covered in blue ( +200 ) at this time last year. mostly avg or slightly below. Lots of winter left yet to come but it would have to get very bad fast for this to be a rough winter. Yes northern NV seems to be the big winner 100-150 percent all over. Two good water years back to back for them. S Utah, AZ and NM could use some more running at 60-70 percent of normal but should get a little better with this last storm now.
 
We got hot good last week here, below zero and snow and ice. today it was 55 and supposed to get warmer next week so this will be pushing east. water situation is looking much better.

Canceled our reservations in West Yellowstone and Togwotee there isn't enough snow to warrant the drive, and it's too warm. SNOTEL's are running 50-75% of normal.

I agree the chances for any significant winterkill for most of the west is nil considering the date and the long range forecast.
 
I find it interesting that most of the Snotel sites I've looked at have their peak snow-water equivalent in mid to late April. We still have 3 months of winter left in the mountains.
 
Snotels are usually at high elevations. the game doesn't winter up there so they're only part of the story. it's supposed to be 40 in West Yellowstone next week with a chance of rain. WTF?
 

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