Tioga Pass Road Opening Date 2015

Post date: Apr 04, 2015 8:30:53 PM

Scary. That is what this year's Sierra Nevada snowpack is. Historic, too. Snow levels are by far at their lowest since at least 1950--5% (source). That's five times lower than the previous record-low. As we've been repeating for the past few years, summer is going to come quick and the water levels are going to drop even quicker. Check out this article by weather.com.

You'll notice that the Glacier Point Road is nowhere in the title of this year's post. That's because it already opened--on March 28! Last year's opening was early, but that was more than two weeks later than this year. The Tioga Pass Road also opened early last year on May 2. Plowing for the Tioga Pass Road will begin on April 15 (if it's even needed). The opening of the road will not come much later. I could get into looking at the data and predicting from previous years, but let's face it, this year is not like other years. Therefore, I'm going to rather conservatively predict that the Tioga Pass Road will open sometime between April 24 and May 2.

Get ready. Alpine season is nearly here. Let's hope the local flora and fauna can make it through this dry spell and for A LOT of summer rainstorms.