2020-2021 Snowpack

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Quite the change for some of those drainages/basins in Arizona and New Mexico, all in a matter of two days. I'm wondering if the snowpack average for some of those is just a lower number in comparison to areas farther north, so a single big dump can swing the numbers dramatically.
 
Hoping Utah gets some late season dumps or at least a lot of rain to make up for the lack of snow!

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I guess it's consoling that it's at least not the worst it's ever been. 2015 was worse, and so was 2012 (which I excluded to keep the clutter down). Resource available here.

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We've already had our first fire of the year, right there in the green 90% zone. Gonna be rough if spring doesn't deliver some rain.
 
@Capsnack and I just came back from Capitol Reef. It's crazy dry in the upper part of the park, but apparently the lower part did get quite a bit of precip two weeks ago. We did the route through the heart of the park that another BCP member wrote about while ago, but started at Cohab Canyon as we hadn't done the Frying Pan and Cassidy Arch trails before. After talking to the rangers, we decided to cache some water in Grand Wash, so we could load up two gallons each just in case we wouldn't find any water along the route. In retrospect, we didn't need to as we found a few potholes along the route that still held a little bit of water, but everything else was completely dry. That includes the Tanks, several very large potholes, AND the lower and upper wader! We spotted a little bit of water in one of the slot canyons that can be accessed by backtracking a little after bypassing it. I assume that most of those water sources will be completely dry by next weekend if we don't get any rain.
 
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Wanderlust073 said:
We've already had our first fire of the year, right there in the green 90% zone. Gonna be rough if spring doesn't deliver some rain.
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If I'm thinking of the right one, it was pretty miniscule, and not really even out of the ordinary for this time of year.
Snowpack in the South Platte was better last year, though, and last year was obviously the worst fire season ever by far. If there isn't any rain over the summer, it will be in an even worse spot.
Last year, there were few fires in Colorado until early August. I'm of the mind that what happens now has little bearing on how the fire season shapes up in August, September, and October. It takes a snow year much further out of the ordinary (perhaps like what UT is having) to do that.
 
yikes... I plan to be backpacking in the swell this weekend, hope we don't strike out due to water.
 
Wanderlust073 said:
We've already had our first fire of the year, right there in the green 90% zone. Gonna be rough if spring doesn't deliver some rain.
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Check on the nifc wildlands site..... Have been as lot of fires already.
More relavent for fire season is spring and summer rains
 
There was recently an article here about our snowpack on how it has gone down some and that this spring is not looking good for the snowpack. The ones that look at all of this is starting to get really concerned, and this is for here locally in NW Wyoming.

Now the Southwest is looking horrible as far as the snowpack is concerned. Now remember a spring or two in the Escalante, where in the spring one could just walk down the riverbed for there was just a little water in it. Yes all over the SW it does not not look good.
 
Stickerbumper said:
@Capsnack and I just came back from Capitol Reef. It's crazy dry in the upper part of the park, but apparently the lower part did get quite a bit of precip two weeks ago. We did the route that @WasatchWill did a while ago, but started at Cohab Canyon as we hadn't done the Frying Pan and Cassidy Arch trails before. After talking to the rangers, we decided to cache some water in Grand Wash, so we could load up two gallons each just in case we wouldn't find any water along the route. In retrospect, we didn't need to as we found a few potholes on route that still held a little bit of water, but everything else was completely dry. That includes the Tanks, several very large potholes, AND the lower and upper wader! We spotted a little bit of water in one of the slot canyons that can be accessed by backtracking a little after bypassing it. I assume that most of those water sources will be completely dry by next weekend if we don't get any rain.
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Been planning a trip through Upper and Lower Spring Canyon for the end of the month. Now I'm worried. Though even in past dryish years (2018) I've always been able to find water in and around the spring near the junction of Upper and Lower, and then again through the lower portions of Lower. Still, I'm feeling nervous.
 
goatpigman said:
Been planning a trip through Upper and Lower Spring Canyon for the end of the month. Now I'm worried. Though even in past dryish years (2018) I've always been able to find water in and around the spring near the junction of Upper and Lower, and then again through the lower portions of Lower. Still, I'm feeling nervous.
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Just call the ranger station. They should be able to give you an update on the water situation in Spring canyon, given that it is a popular trail. Worst case you can always cache some water a little ways down the chimney rock trail. Just make sure to hide it well and pick up your cache again one you are finished ;)
 
Stickerbumper said:
Just call the ranger station. They should be able to give you an update on the water situation in Spring canyon, given that it is a popular trail. Worst case you can always cache some water a little ways down the chimney rock trail. Just make sure to hide it well and pick up your cache again one you are finished ;)
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Ranger station says Upper and Lower has water and should be okay. I'll roll with that. I've tried caching water in Chimney Rock Trail before, and it's kind of a pain in the ass I'd prefer to avoid.
 
Drought strikes again. A friend just reported that the Paria is bone-dry from the confluence with Buckskin upstream to the White House trailhead. Crazy. Anybody have recent beta from further upstream by chance?
 
On another note ... Everything around Yellowstone is basically clear to 10,000 ft.
 
I hiked Browns Point trail to Whipple trailhead yesterday in the Pine Valley Mountains. Two weeks ago there were still snow patches in Whipple Valley (@ ~9100'), Yesterday, the snow was gone, and the Whipple Valley streams were almost dry. It's going to be a long fire season.
 
And there's already a fire in the Bridgers today according to a post I saw on Reddit. And it's been over 90 several days up here this year.

Edit: looks like the fire is up near Townsend actually.
 
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Jackson said:
And there's already a fire in the Bridgers today according to a post I saw on Reddit. And it's been over 90 several days up here this year.
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There's at least 4 active fires in UT, the La Sals one near Moab caused by an abandoned campfire. I don't understand why there isn't a statewide ban on fireworks and all campfires during fire season. I am dreading the 4th after the 12,000 acre fireworks-caused fire at the conservation area near St George last year. Last year we had 3 wildfires w/in 5 miles of our town with 1 evac.
 
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