Did Someone Say Snow? Relax, NOT For Us In New England

Sunset atop Mount Washington, New Hampshire Tuesday as
seen through a railing coverd with ice and frozen snow.
No more snow there in the foreseeable future, but the
mountains of northwestern United States look like they'll
get some over the next several days. 

As we head into summer, it seems all my nightime dreams involve snowfalls.

No, I'm not pining for snow right now, but it seems I've got snow on my brain.

Maybe it's because I've been watching the weather patterns and see signs of snow for the next few days - for the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, not for us, so relax.

It's true it did snow atop Mount Washington the other day, but the jet stream flow has changed and we can expect a few days of summer weather here in the Northeast and through most of the eastern two-thirds of the nation for that matter.

It's another story for the Cascades of Washington and Oregon, the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and parts of the high country in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

A deep dip in the jet stream is drawing cold, stormy air from northwestern Canada, and the result will be some June snow in these mountains. 

It's actually not all that unusual for it to snow in the mountains in the part of the country in June, but still, people are worried about early season hikers and campers that aren't ready for cold temperatures and wet snow.

Already, a winter weather advisory - in June - is up for the Lassen Park area of California for four to eight inches of high elevation snow. Other advisories might go up for the northwestern United States mountains over the weekend and into early next week.

There was already a LOT of snow in many western mountains from a stormy winter. In Wyoming, things have gotten ugly, and the turn to colder weather toward Tuesday there could actually help.

Ahead of the approaching cold front it is quite warm in Wyoming and surrounding parts of Idaho and Montana. That has created some serious snow melt flooding and things will probably get worsre today and Saturday as thunderstorms unleash heavy rain atop this melting snow.

Forecasters are urging voluntary evacuations in some river valleys of central Wyoming. Also,  the Wind River at Riverton, Wyoming has reached a record crest.

Although people in this area will be relieved at the colder weather by Tuesday, I'm sure they won't appreciate the additional snowfall in the mountains, which will eventually have to melt.

California Ski Resort Has Had About 65 FEET Of Snow This Season

Uncovering a ski resort shack recently at Squaw Alpine
near Lake Tahoe, California. 

Here in Vermont, ski season is winding down, after a weird winter, that ultimately ended up OK with a fair amount of snow for winter sports enthusiasts.

A few die-hard resorts are open in the North Country, but as things green up and warm up, that will end soon, too.

Out in California, maybe not as soon as here. Several ski resorts have had 700 inches or more of snow this stormy snow season, and one resort is flirting with 800 inches.

According to the Weather Channel, the Sugar Bowl Resort in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains has had 777 inches of snow so far, and more might be on the way. That's nearly 65 FEET of snow.

Imagine shoveling that out of your driveway.  Then again, you wouldn't even be able to find your house, so there's that.

Of course, there was never 65 feet of snow on the ground at Sugar Bowl Resort because some snow compacted and melted over the course of the season. But still, there's a LOT of snow out ther.e

Believe it or not, the deep snow at Sugar Bowl isn't even close to the record for the most snow in one season at a place in the United States.

That honor goes to Mount Baker Ski Area in Washington State, which had 1,140 inches of snow during the winter of 1998-99. That would be 95 feet of snow.

This year, all that snow stored up in the Sierra Nevada mountains is a good thing, since it will melt over the course of spring and summer and feed reservoirs needed for drinking water and agriculture.

Melting snow from the Sierra Nevada normally supplies about one third of California's drinking and irrigation water supplies.

The melt from the Sierra Nevada hasn't started in earnest yet. In fact, they might get a little more snow in the next couple of days.

The one drawback to all this reservoir-replenishing snow in the California mountains is what happens if it melts too fast?

Snowpack in the Sierra was 164 percent of average as of April 1, which is normally near the peak of the snow depth in those mountains. That's the most since 2011 and the seventh most since 1950, says the Los Angeles Times.

If any strong heat waves develop over California, the rapid snow melt could overrun rivers, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, which already had its share of flooding during the winter storms earlier this year.

The bottom line: California is loving all this water coming off the mountains, but they don't want it all at once. A little at a time, please.