Washington State Snow Total

I think the exceptionally high snowfall stats come mostly from lower elevations (like Snoqualmie).  The higher SNOTELs I’ve checked show levels only a little above normal.  So probably that extra snow will melt in plenty of time for the thru hikers.  ‘Course the spring snows haven’t hit yet, so we’ll see.

High snow levels are a good thing, not bad. Hikers will do as hikers do and manage. The melt out in sub alpine regions can happen very quickly come summer leaving of course the alpine glacial pack.

yeah snow pack, unless it’s low, is nothing to complain about- no offense to thru hikers, but a good snow pack is something to celebrate about imo

One spring (around 1980) in a snowed-in alpine lake in the Cascades we camped on snow in an REI Crestline (A-frame) tent, which has many tie-out points.  I used snow anchors I made out of Al sheet, basically little snow flukes with many holes punched in them to decrease the weight.  They are around  7″ tall and 5″ wide.

During the night the wind picked up and the tent was flapping, so I put on warm clothes and went out to see what was the matter (my wife declined).  Well, the wind was amazingly warm, a “föhn” wind (aka Chinook wind), and it had melted out at least 6″ of snow in a few hours.  Many of my stakes were just laying on top of the snow.

And our tent was sitting on a 6″ snow platform since all the snow around it was gone.

It’s amazing how fast snow can melt out in the Cascades!

Let’s count our blessings.  The snow pack impacts a lot more than a few hikers, and the higher than normal snow levels in the Cascades are almost universally considered a good thing up here.  Let’s hope we don’t get an early spring with higher than normal temperatures and/or a lot of rain.