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- - Snow line recession in lower mainland
(https://forums.clubtread.com/8-british-columbia-mainland-hiking/80706-snow-line-recession-lower-mainland.html)
Snow line recession in southwest BC
Hi all,
Can anyone give me a rule of thumb for how fast the snow line tends to recede in southwest BC (in say, vertical metres per week)? I understand that this must vary year to year and across SWBC but any sort of approximation I could use would be helpful. Really I'm just trying to estimate when certain hikes and scrambles will be snow-free or near enough. Thanks P.S. I'm guessing from a trip to Squamish last week that the snow line is currently at around 800m there. Is that more or less correct? |
It is just about impossible to rate the change in snow level; since there is so much variability. North Versus south slopes;.......forested areas versus open meadow areas........these cause huge differences in snow level in the same area.
Cypress Bowl @ 900 meters level, there is 1.5 to 2 meters of snow just north of the skii areas. In the interior it tends to be higher later on in the spring. K |
What Karl said. There's no simple rule. However, if you check the automated snow pillow graphs, you can get a general idea of what's going on. Typically, peak snowpack snow water equivalent (not depth) is May 1 and things melt rapidly from there. http://bcrfc.env.gov.bc.ca/data/asp/realtime/ This year is mostly unusual because there's more snow than normal at low elevations (like Seymour). At medium and high elevations (like Mamquam or Wedgemount for instance), up until recently there was less than average. Many South Coast stations have crossed over and now have slightly above average, but nowhere near record, snowpacks.
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Useful info there thank you both.
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I use the Whistler Blackcomb Mountain Webcams, Black Tusk Snowmobile Club Webcam, and Sea to Sky Gondola webcam. Looking at it visually is nice. Of course north facing slopes as low as 3-4000 feet may have permanent snow patches while south facing slopes the snow is long gone by May. But then it depends on the year.
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Best set of SW BC links (webcams, snow data, water levels, etc.) can be found here:
http://www.ashikaparsad.com/2016/12/...lanning-links/ -Ryan |
The Magbumper..
Hope you got the info needed for your planning. presently snow level on northshore is about 800 to 850 meters in vicinity of active skii areas. K |
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