One of the classic scenes in Yosemite National Park is found at Glacier Point, an overlook which provides outstanding views of park landmarks such as Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and Yosemite Valley. Glacier Point is an understandable favorite with park visitors, but you'd usually need cross-county skis to get there in March. That's not the case this year, and the Glacier Point Road is already open to traffic.
The early access to Glacier Point is great news for tourists, but there's a worrisome side to this event as well: the unusual March opening is the result of the low snowpack in the High Sierras.
Statistics from the park show this is the first time since 1995 that the Glacier Point Road has opened prior to April 14, and the average date for vehicle access in that time span is May 23. In the past twenty years, there have, in fact, been only two other openings of the road prior to May 2, and those two dates occurred last year and in 2012. In two years, 1995 and 1998, heavier than usual snows delayed the road opening until the first day of July.
For comparison purposes, a park database lists the snowpack for the Tuolumne drainage as of April 1st, so this year's numbers won't be available for a few days. The past three years, however, recorded snowpacks of only 33, 52 and 43 percent of average, the lowest such figures since 1988. Other data from nearby sites earlier this month showed the water content of the snowpack was four to six percent of normal.
So, enjoy the early opportunity to feast in the magnificent view from Glacier Point...but if one of your objectives is to enjoy those famous Yosemite waterfalls, it might be a good idea to go sooner rather than later this year. A webcam showing current conditions at Yosemite Falls is available at this link.
Comments
Depending on when the Park Loop Road opens in Acadia National Park after the record snows, could be the opposite issue there - perhaps one of the latest openings?
You're correct - it's really been a "tale of two winters" between the Northeast and the West. No doubt plenty of folks in Boston and similar areas would have been happy to divert some of their snow to California.
And Californians would perhaps have welcomed some of the East's snows, to help ease the drought....