Yosemite snowpack and waterfall conditions. Weather swung from big storms to extreme dry
Despite a six-week dry spell in Yosemite National Park, snowpack conditions there are currently close to average for this time of the year.
That’s thanks to some heavy storms last year that helped make up for the deficit.
Feb. 1 snow surveys at the popular park in California revealed snow water content to be 96% of average in the Tuolumne River drainage and 92% of average in the Merced River drainage. The headwaters of those rivers are almost entirely protected within Yosemite.
“December snowfall in the Sierra Nevada was extraordinary with much of the mountain range seeing monthly totals that haven’t occurred in decades,” Yosemite officials said this weekend. “January was also record breaking however, as about the driest possible, with Yosemite receiving essentially zero precipitation.”
They added that it’s hard to define what “normal” is for California weather.
January was also exceedingly dry across the state and region, including record-breaking conditions in the Fresno area.
Yosemite waterfalls and the ‘firefall’ on Horsetail Fall
Many Yosemite enthusiasts are keeping a close eye on the weather this month with the ‘firefall’ in mind. That natural phenomenon — where Horsetail Fall glows golden or orange with the setting sun — can occur for a limited time in February if conditions are right.
Yosemite officials haven’t shared an update about Horsetail Fall conditions this February. Last week, photographers at The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley were among those sharing caution for 2022.
“With how sunny it’s been lately and the lack of recent precipitation, only time will tell if the phenomenon occurs,” gallery staff wrote Friday on Facebook.
Gallery curator Evan Russel told The Bee on Monday that the Horsetail Fall water conditions he saw about a week and a half ago were “not great.” To eager viewers, he said, “maybe hold off until next year.”
The 1,000-foot Horsetail Fall is ephemeral, usually with a little water flowing from December through April.
Of Yosemite’s more robust and visible waterfalls, park officials reported that Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, Bridalveil Fall and Yosemite Falls are currently “flowing well” despite the recent dry weather.
There’s no rain or snow in Yosemite’s foreseeable weather forecast.
Beyond that? Maybe the Yosemite marmots will eventually tell us.
“We don’t have groundhogs in California,” Yosemite officials said, “but their close cousins, yellow-bellied marmots, are snugly hibernating in Yosemite right now so we won’t be able to get their prediction for the remaining weeks of winter.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 4:23 PM.
