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Weather: (January 9 through January 15) High temp: 49° (Jan 14) Low temp: -1° (Jan 9) New Snow: 1” (Jan 9) Total settled snow depth: 47” as of January 16 Ski Conditions and Weather: It has been a mostly dry and warm week here at the meadows. We received a little bit of snow last Wednesday, but unfortunately it was followed by a couple hours of rain- just enough to put a pretty firm crust on top of the snow pack. Trail breaking is relatively easy, as long as you don’t mind plowing through the crust which is not quite strong enough to support a persons weight. The past few days we have been stuck in a dry weather pattern, with warm sunny days followed by cold clear nights. 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: The coyotes have returned to the area after a couple weeks absence; they probably had to move down to lower elevations during the big storms a couple weeks ago when the snow was getting quite deep, but now that the snowpack has firmed up we are starting to see their tracks once again. This week we also saw tracks of weasel, pine marten, chickaree, and hare. Birds seen this week include: Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, Townsend’s Solitaire, Clark’s Nutcracker, and Common Raven. 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 - 1/17/08)

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