What a winter it’s been for the Sierra Nevada!! First there was the wild December that brought up to 15 feet of snow in a week, now it’s the miracle March that has seen over 200 inches fall in many locations. Here are some of the season totals from ski areas throughout the range along with their current base depths.

• Boreal Mountain Resort: 766″ *
  Current Base: 275″ – 373″
• Squaw Valley: 691″
  Current Base: 90″ – 250″
• Kirkwood Mountain: 692″ – 713″
  Current Base: 230″ – 273″
• Mammoth Mtn: 606″ *
  Current Base: 204″ – 324″
• China Peak: 504″ – 538″

* All time resort records

Makes you wonder what April will bring. The long range models are hinting at more storms coming in around April 6. We’ll have to see what happens. Mammoth Mountain averages 32″ of snow in April and they have seen some huge April snows in the past, including 80″ last year and a whopping 118″ in 2006.

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The Sierra Nevada received a major dumping over the last few days. Up to 8 feet of snow fell in some locations!! Here are some of the storm totals from ski areas around the Sierra.

• 83-98″ at Kirkwood
• 64-81″ at Squaw Valley
• 37-67″ at Sierra-at-Tahoe
• 30″ at Bear Valley
• 63-100″ at Mammoth Mountain
• 86-98″ at China Peak

Another big storm will be moving through the mountains today and tomorrow. An additional 1-2 feet of snow is forecast to fall above 7000 ft. Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Storm Watches are currently issued for the Sierra.

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The next late winter storm is beginning to move into the Sierra Nevada as I type this. Winter Storm Warnings have been issued for the entire mountain range through Monday morning. This powerful storm is expected to dump up to 3 feet of new snow above 5000 ft with 4 feet of snow possible in the Southern Sierra. Powerful winds will also accompany this storm. Wind to 65 mph can be expected with ridge top gust over 100 mph.

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Here is the latest from CalFire on the Center Fire in the Eastern Sierra town of Big Pine California and another video of the fire. You can really feel the wind in this one.

• Acres Burned: 1200
• Containment: 1,200 acres – 35% contained.
  Full containment expected on Sunday 3/20
• Structures Destroyed: Estimated 19 residences damaged or destroyed
  100 more are still threatened
• Evacuations: Mandatory evacuations are in place at the following areas:
  • Everything west of West St in Big Pine
  • All other evacuations have been lifted
  • Evacuation centers have been set up at the Big Pine High School and Big Pine Indian Reservation gym.
• Cause: Under investigation
• Conditions: Yesterday the fire grew rapidly as it was fanned by extremely strong winds, but last night and this morning the winds have diminished and the area has received light rain.
  Highway 395 is back open in both directions.
  The public can call 760-937-1686 to locate displaced residents.

For more information visit this link at CalFire: http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=482

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