How is the snow measured in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows?

Victoria Meza
·1 min read
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YOSEMITE, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – In Tuolumne Meadows, rangers say they did not have much to report after they received only one new inch of snow in the past week. Park rangers explained this simple, but not easy, process, which is done with a tool called Mount Rose.

To measure the snowpack, park rangers say snow surveyors plunge a Mount Rose snow sampler, effectively a long metal tube marked in regular increments of distance, through the snow until it reaches the ground properly.

The tube is toothed on the business end to help it cut through ice layers, but even then, park rangers say it can take a lot of elbow grease to break through multiple frozen layers, clear clogs, etc., all with the hope of finally hearing it scrape on granite or come back up with dirt and pine duff at the end.

In some high snow years, like 2023, park rangers say it can take hours to sample one site. With only 20 inches of accumulated snow, it is not as difficult in 2024.

“We’ll see if the storm arriving tonight changes things,” Park rangers said in a social media post.

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