Tracking Weather and Climate at Devils Postpile National Monument

The Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River winding through snowy meadow and forest in Devils Postpile National Monument. NPS / Monica Buhler.

Why weather and climate matter

Weather — day-to-day temperature, precipitation, wind and more — matters to visitors planning trips to Devils Postpile National Monument and to managers tracking short-term changes; wildfire behavior, for instance, depends on daily weather. Climate, the long-term pattern, is one of the biggest forces shaping the Sierra Nevada ecosystem, governing where plants and animals live, snowpack and streamflow and fire regimes.

Warming is shrinking the water content of Sierra snowpack and making it melt earlier in spring, leaving less water for plants, animals, California communities and farms. Over the past century some small mammals have shifted uphill, and tree death rates have risen in recent decades — changes linked to warming.

The weather station's tower and sensors at Devils Postpile. NPS / Jeff Balmat.

Long-term monitoring

Weather, climate and snowpack are priorities for the Sierra Nevada Network (SIEN), an Inventory and Monitoring program shared by Devils Postpile, Sequoia and Kings Canyon and Yosemite.

• In 2005, staff from Devils Postpile, Sequoia and Kings Canyon and SIEN worked with the California Department of Water Resources and Scripps Institution of Oceanography to install a weather station in Soda Springs Meadow.
• It records precipitation, temperature, snow depth, solar radiation and wind speed, among other measures.
• Two interpretive signs explain why the station sits in the meadow and why monitoring matters.
• It is one of many stations SIEN uses to track trends in temperature, precipitation and snowpack. A 2010 report (Balmat and Scott) reviews current and historical weather data in and near the monument; the local record will grow more valuable as it lengthens.

An interpretive sign explains why the station is in Soda Springs Meadow. NPS / Jeff Balmat.

Longer records come from U.S. Forest Service stations outside the monument, such as Mammoth Pass, Agnew Pass and Green Mountain; the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area also publishes weather data.

Weather, snow and decommissioned stations in and near Devils Postpile National Monument. Image from the National Park Service's page.

How the data are used

The monument's surface water and groundwater, and the life that depends on them, are closely tied to local and regional climate. Weather records help:

• interpret changes in other monitored resources — streams and wetlands, wetland plants and invertebrates, and birds;
• build long-term understanding of the southern Sierra Nevada climate;
• let fire managers predict how a wildfire might spread;
• help California water managers forecast water for the growing season;
• explain ecosystem processes in the monument and surrounding national forest.

A highly visible station and real-time online data also give the monument a chance to teach visitors and neighbors about weather, climate change, snowpack and streamflow.

The Middle Fork San Joaquin River with Soda Springs Meadow beyond. Image from the National Park Service's page.

Sources

Based on "Weather and Climate Monitoring at Devils Postpile National Monument," Sierra Nevada Network, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.