Great Basin National Park's Big Snow Year of 2019

By Gretchen Baker, Ecologist, Great Basin National Park

Skiing to the next snow course along Baker Creek. NPS photo by G. Baker.

After a few dry years, the mountains of Great Basin National Park were white again in early 2019. To find out how much snow had fallen, park staff and volunteers skied up Baker Creek to three snow courses, at 8,200, 9,200 and 9,550 feet.

How snow is measured

At each snow course, crews take five measurements with a long aluminum tube:

1. drive the tube down through the snow to the ground — that gives the depth;
2. pull it out with the snow inside and weigh it — that gives the snow water equivalent: how much water the snow would make if it melted.

The results

The March total was the highest at the Baker Creek snow courses since 2005 (when snowpack reached 300%), and the fifth highest since measurements began in 1942. Historical data are on the Natural Resources Conservation Service website, and real-time data — with a photo each day — come from the Wheeler Peak SNOTEL station.

Table 1: results of the March 28, 2019, snow survey.

The Wheeler Peak SNOTEL site on April 12, 2019.

What all that snow means

• Lehman Caves: wetter than usual — "spouters" (water squirting from the sides of soda straws), soda straws with bubbles on their tips (perhaps how turnip stalactites grow), and pools filling. The Wishing Well, on the way into the Sunken Garden, has water again after being dry the year before, and the Sunken Garden's water is the highest in decades.
• Creeks: higher than usual. Peak flow usually runs from mid-May to the end of June, with enough water to sweep someone downstream — you can even hear boulders rolling. Take care near streams, and watch for flooded roads and trails.
• Wildflowers: a great season ahead.

Sources

Based on "2019 Snow Survey Results," by Gretchen Baker, The Midden — Great Basin National Park, Vol. 19, No. 1, Summer 2019, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.