Weather: (April 2 to April 9)

High temp: 49° (April 3)

Low temp: 5° (April 9)

New Snow: 1” (April 8)

Total settled snow depth: 40” as of April 9

Ski Conditions and Weather: It has been another cool, windy, and cloudy week at Tuolumne, with afternoon highs in the forties and overnight lows in the teens and single digits. We have had a couple weak storm systems blow through the area, leaving behind a dusting of snow. The overall snowpack depth has not changed much in the past week, so spring runoff is still on hold.

The latest conditions report from the east side is that the Tioga road (Highway 120) has melted out from the road closure gate outside of Lee Vining up to the Warren Fork of Lee Vining Creek, with patches of snow from Warren Fork up to Ellery Lake. Skiers coming in from the east side should be prepared to walk the first 4-5 miles of road above the gate before you hit the good snow near Ellery Lake. Skiers coming up the Snow Creek trail from the west side report that the snow line begins just above the top of the switchbacks; everything below that level has melted out.

Avalanche and Snowpack Conditions: For the latest avalanche advisory for this area go to www.esavalanche.org for the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center and click on advisory. The ESAC site is updated several times a week and more often during weather events.

Wildlife: Birds seen in the past week include the Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, Brewer’s Blackbird, Townsend’s Solitaire, Clark’s Nutcracker, Stellar’s Jay, Northern Flicker, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpecker. We are still seeing quite a few Painted Lady butterflies migrating through the meadows during the afternoons. Animal tracks seen in the past week include Coyote, Pine Marten, Chickaree, Mice/Vole, and Hare. No sign of any bears yet.

Questions: If you have any ski related or weather questions feel free to call 209-372-0450 between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm. If we are out skiing, leave a message and a phone number so we can return your call. Please don’t call us with questions about road conditions, as we live 20 miles from the nearest plowed road and don’t do any driving this time of year. For current park road conditions call 209-372-0200. (Jeff and Kathi, the Tuolumne winter rangers)