What’s up with the weather?

2011-12-03 23:03:00.000 – Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

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What’s up with the weather?

It seems we keep uttering the same phrase up here on the summit: ‘This time, the snow pack won’t melt out.’ Our crew was convinced of this fact before our early departure last shift in advance of the Thanksgiving Eve snowstorm. With a healthy 10 inches of snow falling on the summit, and a large dose of heavy wet snow blanketing the valleys below, this time, it REALLY won’t melt out.

But yet another Wednesday went by without the use of the increasingly lonely Snow Cat, as nearly 3 inches of rain coupled with mild temperatures allowed the snowpack to dwindle to isolated patches for the third time this adolescent winter season. We received .8 inches of snow on Friday, but most of this promptly exited stage-ravines as northwest winds picked up Friday night. As a result, the early December landscape still boasts a fair bit of bare rock and sedge.

This time, I won’t make the mistake of saying this feeble snow ‘pack’ won’t melt out, as models are once again forecasting a warm up for the foreseeable future, with highs most likely cresting above the freezing mark for the next three consecutive days.

However, the first true dose of summit winter is being hinted at in the long-range forecast models, so we may not have to wait much longer. BUT, long-range models have been known to be wrong before.

The best plan is to just wait and see!

Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist