Snow closes 5 camps in Yosemite for summer

San Jose Mercury News ^ | 5/22/05 | Glennda Chui

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Five popular High Sierra camps in Yosemite National Park will remain closed all summer because of heavy snow, which is still piled up to 15 feet deep, the park announced Tuesday. It's only the second time since 1916 that the camps have not been able to open, according to a spokeswoman for the concession company that operates them. The first was in the El Niño year of 1996.

Five campgrounds along Tioga Road with a total of 522 sites will remain closed indefinitely, although the park plans to open them this summer, Freeman said. The one at lowest elevation, Crane Flat, is tentatively scheduled to open June 30, she said.

"We're just going to have to wait until things clear out a little bit," she said. "We're looking at a whole lot of water still sitting on the ground, and that can make getting utilities up and running difficult."

Update from today's Merc: Tioga Pass, the highest highway route through the Sierra Nevada, has reopened for the summer, the National Park Service announced Friday. "This is a late opening because of the heavy snowpack in the Sierra this year,'' said Scott Gediman, a Yosemite National Park spokesman. Tioga Pass closed for the winter on Oct. 17 last year. The latest opening for Tioga Pass on record was July 8 in 1933. The pass is typically closed from November through May.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

In other news, on June 21 (exactly ONE day before the above posted article), our esteemed Senator Feinstein had the following to say in support of the McCain / Lieberman Amendment on Climate Change:

"What this chart shows is, if we take strong action to curb greenhouse gas emissions, 27 percent of the snowpack will remain in the Sierras; strong action will only protect 27 percent. If we do nothing to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, only 11 percent of the Sierra Nevada snowpack will be left by the end of the century. You clearly see it. That is Armageddon for California. That is Armageddon for the fifth largest economy on Earth."

We can't predict the WEATHER accurately two days in advance and these "scientists" KNOW for certain that only 11% of the snowpack will be left in 95 years. And NOT ONE of the experts forecasted the record snowpack we have had this year.

I guess it's true we get the government we deserve.

[muawiyah]

Looks like that doggone runaway greenhouse effect done run away again.

[Paul Atreides]

Where's algore when we need him?

[digitalbrownshirt]

Damned global warming, ruining everything. Kind of sounds like Gore's global warming speech on the coldest day ever a few years back.

We're dealing with idiots and maniacs.

[tubebender]

Frosty Ping...

[Ann Archy]

that Global Warming is a B*tch!

[coconutt2000]

Global warming is so darned slippery... it must be true, but it is so hard to prove! /sarcasm

[InABunkerUnderSF]

DiFi and the rest of the "Greens" have to be history's most self absorbed narcissists. Only complete narcissists could believe that they have it within their power to effect the weather.

Read Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" (or better titled "How to Serve an Environmentalist"). It's a novel but it has an appendix that points out the parallels between the "Science" behind "Global Warming Theory" and that between "Eugenics Theory" and explains how the former wound up killing millions.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Meant "latter". Sorry.

[HereInTheHeartland]

A glacier will be heading down from the mountains very soon.
Darned global cooling.

[GOP_1900AD]

I would expect the Conness Glacier to start expanding during the coming winter, since the past winter's accumulation will not likely all melt off before the snow starts again. The only thing that would prevent it would be having a drought during the coming wet season. I seriously doubt that though, since the Pacific has gone ENSO neutral (e.g. neither El Nino nor La Nina) and looks to be stable for at least a year. It is even possible that some "mini glaciers" may form in other areas of the Sierra for a few years. History shows that *massive* glaciation is possible in the Sierra. It could happen again! I'm not selling my skis! :-)

[Lawgvr1955]

I guess it's true we get the government we deserve.

Thank God we don't get all the government we pay for!!!

[TommyUdo]

I have this sorry excuse for a tree in my front yard in Sacramento. It's called a Modesto Ash. It's a native species planted as a street tree throughout this city 50 years ago.

Mine has a common disease that causes it to loose its first set of leaves every spring (which starts about February out here).

As I write this, I'm contemplating the unpleasant task of having to clean out my house gutters for what seems like the 300th time, because this stupid tree keeps thinking it's March and therefore, time to dump a set of leaves.

It's on its fourth set this year.

Every Modesto Ash in the City I've seen is acting the same way.

Why?

Because, it's colder than normal.

Speaking on behalf of my very pregnant wife, I say, "Thanks G*d for the Northern California version of Global Warming!"

[Paleo Conservative]

It's Bush's fault!

[ProudVet77]

spring (which starts about February out here)

Sorry I have a hard time feeling your pain. We just started spring here about 3 weeks ago. ;) And the days are already getting shorter already :(

[PLMerite]

"As I write this, I'm contemplating the unpleasant task of having to clean out my house gutters for what seems like the 300th time..."

Gutter Helmet. Best home-improvement money I ever spent.

[pepsionice]

Its global cooling that matters...I've been trying to explain this to people for years, and they just don't get it. When the blizzards come to Tampa...then you'll listen to me.

[upchuck]

Y'all be careful ya don't freeze to death while yer basking in the Global Warming.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I was at the top of Tioga Pass a week ago. Never been there before, but I looked at the maps and my GPS, so I am pretty sure it was the pass. The pass was CLOSED according to the government minders, and there was a row of orange cones across the warm, dry asphalt.

However, in spite of the three-foot snow remnants at the roadside, it was clear that the road was wide open.

I suspect the this is all about lazy government employees who enjoy their park service salary without working, when the road is still "closed."

(Ask me about the Mono lake "dust toxins" that no Park Service employee could explain when pressed. Somehow, alkali baking soda becomes "toxic" in government museum dioramas, when politics dictates.