Stevens Pass has earliest snow meltout on record

From Scott Sistek's blog: www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/Ste...ears--301704251.html

STEVENS PASS, Wash. -- The paltry snowpack at Stevens Pass this winter is now officially melted out.

While there is still a dusting of snow around some parts of the pass area, the measuring station there measured less than 2 inches of snow water equivalent on the ground Tuesday -- the official definition of when the snowpack is considered melted out, according to University of Washington research meteorologist Mark Albright.

Albright says April 28 is the earliest date for this to happen since the statistic began being tracked in 1981. The previous earliest meltout was May 1, 2005.

The mean date for meltout is June 2, but the last four years have been much later than that, with the snow hanging on until June 6 last year, and just as recent as 2011 we set the record for latest meltout at July 1.
The news was no better for Snoqualmie Pass, which just obliterated its record for least amount of snow in a single season. The WSDOT says the pass had 104 total inches of snow this past winter, nearly half of the previous record low of 191 inches in the winter of 1976-77 and less snow than Boston had this winter! (110.6 inches.) Snoqualmie Pass averages 433 inches of seasonal snow.

The pass just had 34 days of measurable snow, of which only 10 days had 4 or more inches in a day.

It's all a result of the continued warm weather pattern the Northwest has seen now for over a year. April is just about to go down as the 14th consecutive month with above average temperatures in Western Washington. Three of the past five months have been the warmest on record in the Seattle area.

Now that the snow is essentially gone in the lower pass levels, concern turns to the wildfire season. While it has been a warm winter, we have had fairly normal amounts of precipitation (as in, lots of rain, just not falling as snow). But long range forecast suggest we'll have a drier than normal late spring and into early summer.

Stevens Pass SNOTEL: www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=791

That, combined with an increased likelihood of having a strong El Nino this coming winter , does not bode well. But it's early and there's plenty of time for things to change. I guess we'll know for sure this fall when the local rodentia begin preparing for winter.