Yosemite closed until March 13 at the earliest as incoming storms raise flooding concerns
Yosemite National Park has been fairly buried in snow recently.
Last week, the park in central California reported 40 inches in the Yosemite Valley, breaking a snowfall record that had around for 50 years.
Higher elevations have received up to 15 feet of snow, according to the National Park Service, which closed Yosemite to visitors on Feb. 25 as crews worked to restore power, clear roofs and roads and parking lots.
The park could reopen as early as Sunday, but that seems doubtful, as the National Weather Service calls for another storm to hit the area Thursday.
“Reopening on March 13 is a best-case scenario,” the park service wrote in a social media post on Monday.
Conditions are being evaluated on a daily basis. The park said it will provide an update early next week.
Pictures from inside Yosemite show the scope of the snow coverage.
In one, a bathroom doorway is blocked by a wall of packed snow. In another, the tents at Curry Village are barely visible, their peaks covered in thick layer of white, only the tops of the doorways peaking through.
One picture, looking up toward Glacier Point, shows a National Park sign poking just above the white horizon line. It’s pointing the way to a visitor’s center that’s surely inaccessible.
Crews are currently working to plow roads to full two-lane widths and digging out parking lots, most of which are still under six feet of snow, according to the park service. Staff also needs to dig out buried buildings and vehicles along with hundreds of fire hydrants and propane tanks. Trees that are near roads and buildings are being evaluated for excessive snow loads that could cause them to fall. Snow is being removed from roofs to prevent collapses.
The next storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall, not snow, into the region, including into Yosemite Valley. According to the National Weather Service, snow levels are expected to raise to at least 8,000 feet, and the accumulated snow at lower levels (2,000-5,000 feet) is expected to start melting.
Flooding is possible.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 11:15 AM.