Snow shakes up Memorial Day planning

Two years ago this week, you could start at Whitney Portal below Mount Whitney and walk 400 miles north across the High Sierra to Meeks Bay at Lake Tahoe without ever putting a boot in snow.

In the past 10 days, I’ve ventured from the flank of Whitney to the front country of the Trinity Alps in the north of the state. The difference this year compared with recent years is mind-boggling, and the best example of that is the approach to Sonora Pass, Highway 108 through Stanislaus National Forest.

The final 15 miles of the pass, where the grades can reach 25 percent and which climb 3,500 feet to 9,624 feet, are closed by deep snow.

In past years, Caltrans often cleared Sonora Pass by the last Saturday in April, the opening of the trout season. In recent big snow years, Caltrans opened it May 28 in 2006 and May 27 in 2011. But to match that this year in time for Memorial Day weekend would be a real long shot.

In the annual May 1 survey, the Department of Water Resources measured 99 inches of snow pack at the gauge located at 9,313 feet near Sonora Pass, 213 percent of normal.

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, this is a testament to the conditions across the high Sierra.

Highway 120 through Yosemite, Highway 4 at Ebbetts Pass, Highway 89 at Lassen and Highway 203 at Minaret Summit also have no opening dates set.

This past weekend, it felt like early summer in the foothills town of Sonora (Tuolomne County). Highs felt like the low 70s. Nearby New Melones and Don Pedro reservoirs were about 85 percent full and rising from snowmelt.

As you drive east, you don’t hit snow until elevations of roughly 6,000 to 6,500 feet, near Pinecrest and Dodge Ridge. You’ll see patches of snow on shaded slopes, with the greens of spring emerging elsewhere.

Caltrans has plowed Highway 108 only to Kennedy Meadows, at about 6,100 feet near Dardanelle, before the snow closes off the pass.

Add it up: For planning Memorial Day weekend, focus on the range between the floor of the Central Valley up to 6,500 feet on the flank of the Sierra.