April 24, 2005, Alpental Meltdown

I was surprised by how quickly the snowpack at the base of Alpental melted today, as seen in these webcam images taken only 10 hours apart:<br><br> <br><br>The NWAC telemetry copied below shows only a 2-3" decrease in snowdepth during the day at the measurement site, but obviously the snowpack in sun-exposed areas is vanishing much more quickly than that. And the snowdepth in open areas is already closer to 0" than the roughly 24" measured at the telemetry site (presumably shaded by trees).<br><br>

[fixed]4-24-2005<br>Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center<br>Alpental Ski Area, Washington<br><br>Wind sensors unheated and may rime<br>4300 ft temp repaired 16 April 2005<br><br> MM/DD Hour Temp Temp Temp RH RH Wind Wind Wind Hour Total 24Hr Total<br> . PST F F F % % Avg Max Dir. Prec. Prec. Snow Snow<br> . . 5400' 4300' 3120' 3120' 5400' 5530' 5530' 5530' 3120' 3120' 3120' 3120'<br>

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<br> 4 23 2300 37 38 39 98 100 6 16 62 .01 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 0 37 37 39 99 100 8 19 117 0 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 100 37 37 38 99 100 12 19 134 0 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 200 37 39 38 99 99 18 31 131 0 .01 -0 24<br> 4 24 300 37 37 38 99 99 16 32 117 0 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 400 37 39 38 99 94 19 34 114 0 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 500 36 39 36 98 95 22 34 122 0 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 600 39 41 37 99 86 20 32 119 0 .01 -0 25<br> 4 24 700 42 42 37 99 78 19 31 113 0 .01 -0 24<br> 4 24 800 45 39 43 97 70 15 25 108 0 .01 -0 23<br> 4 24 900 45 43 48 89 74 13 22 112 0 .01 -0 24<br> 4 24 1000 49 45 54 72 68 7 15 119 0 .01 -1 24<br> 4 24 1100 51 51 58 63 68 2 12 135 0 .01 -1 23<br> 4 24 1200 48 52 60 55 74 1 6 115 0 .01 -154 23<br> 4 24 1300 50 52 59 60 70 0 6 110 0 .01 -1 22<br> 4 24 1400 48 51 58 59 68 0 6 302 0 .01 -1 22<br> 4 24 1500 48 51 59 61 76 6 12 320 0 .01 -1 21<br> 4 24 1600 47 49 58 63 86 8 20 328 0 .01 -1 22<br> 4 24 1700 46 48 51 77 90 13 19 344 0 .01 -0 22<br> 4 24 1800 44 47 46 89 95 13 20 1 0 .01 -0 23<br> 4 24 1900 43 44 44 90 99 14 22 358 0 .01 -0 23<br> 4 24 2000 42 42 43 94 100 14 24 356 0 .01 -0 23<br> 4 24 2100 43 43 43 97 98 10 24 338 .04 .05 -0 23<br> 4 24 2200 42 43 43 98 100 13 20 338 .01 .06 -0 23<br><br>[/fixed]

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One factor in meltdown of Low snowpack at Ski areas Reflects the fact that the snow on runs or trails was not compacted by groomers and skiers as it would be in a normal year. Telemetry of depth does seem to be out of whack there.

The snow is melting fast at Crystal too. I skied from the parking lot into the Norse Peak area on Tuesday and on Sunday you probably would have to hike the first 500' or so of vertical. Crystal's base area is melting out fast too---even the packed runs that are low and especially those that face S.

Wow. On Friday I skinned from the bottom of the slope on the far right of the photo.

I think the reason why we've had no snow and why it's melting so fast is because there's a band of new jersey mothers spraying aqua net into the air. They hate us.

&gt;spraying aqua net into the air. <br><br>I can see the head lines now: <br>"Big hair ruins big snow."<br><br>Thanks for the smile.<br>Remember May is Bike Month: www.bikemonth.com/

Jessica