Will this Winter ever end?

The forecasts through next week look like more of the same. Snow at lower elevations. Unbelievable. I wonder if the high mountain trails even melt out at all this summer? Be prepared for a wait into at least mid-August to access the high country when it's free of snow in the central Cascades.

I was talking to someone who was skiing knee deep powder on the mountain yesterday!

There's a cold storm coming in next week, supposedly. We could be skiing knee-deep powder in May.

Man, I hope it warms up really quickly this summer. I was finally able to take time off the first week of August to shoot wildflowers at Rainier-I'll probably end up a couple weeks too early this year...

Wanna thinker?

Go to http://www.spaceweather.com/ and look at the sunspot photo for today. Come back and look at it every day.

The sun's activity is generally on an eleven year cycle. We've already passed the lowest point of the cycle, and sunspot activity should be on the upswing. That's not happening yet.

The last time this happened was at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. There appears to be a connection between solar activity levels and climate, according to many scientists who work in the solar weather field.

We've just come through one of the coldest winters (in the northern hemisphere) for a long time. It snowed in Baghdad for the first time in hundreds of years, and snowed several times in Jerusalem. Last summer (here) the southern hemisphere was also having its coldest winter in donkey's years.

Of course, one winter doth not a trend make . . . let's see how the summer goes and what comes around next winter . . . but things appear to be in a bit of somewhat unanticipated flux for the moment.

Ah, well . . . we did have a nice spring, didn't we? This year it came on a Saturday . . .

I thought "winter" was your favorite time of year....you should be glad it's hanging around.

Oh, I am glad it's hanging around. I'm just writing to make sure people know not to expect to be shooting wildflowers in the mountains out here the same time they usually would. Late July into early August we could still have 10 feet of snow in some areas if this keeps up. This should be closer to the summer of 99' when things didn't melt out until late August or even September in some areas, especially in that region from Hood to Rainier.

I can't remember exactly what year it was but I do remember shooting wildflowers at Rainier during the first week of September.

I just returned from one of my test apple orchards near the Tri-Cities. Normally my trees are in full bloom on this date and the temperature is pleasant. Not today... the trees aren't near full bloom, and I was bundled up to the max trying to stay warm. I heard that Leavenworth had a snow advisory today. Sheesh... The balsamroot is still not in full bloom in the Wenatchee Valley, and the early-blooming plants on south facing slopes have been doing so for more than two weeks. That's got to be some kind of record. The Wenatchee River has had such little meltwater that the Ridge to River Relay canceled the river paddling leg for the first time in it's 26 year history for safety reasons (too many exposed boulders). If we get a sudden hot spell, all hell is going to break loose.

Careful what you wish for is what comes to my mind Marc! You're the winter guy around here...I figure you conjured up some spell that got outta hand or something...now it's got you fleein to California

Marc, it appears to not have been a good photography based winter for you. Is that because of the dangerous conditions in all of the mountains or because of other reasons ? Amazing that there is so much and more is on it's way !!

I am thinking its gonna be a killer year for waterfalls long into summer.....thats just my positive thinking

John, indeed. This has been a TERRIBLE winter for photography. Mostly due to bad luck and unfavorable conditions. No lack of effort on my part, that's for sure. If only I had one decent shot for every five trips I took I'd have plenty from this past winter. It's was the constant onslaught of storms earlier in the year, 2 months and no breaks in between, followed by bad luck. Every time a storm cleared away the snow would either melt or blow off the trees before I could ever get good landscape shots. I spent 12-13 nights on TDH mountain alone this winter at what I believed to be the best times to do so without ever seeing a good shot of Hood. Rainier was closed after pretty much every major snow storm this year due to equipment failures and avalanches and there was so much low elevation snow everywhere else it created access problems to other areas I haven't seen in years. It's just been a little of everything this winter. I shouldn't have spent it in the NW at all. Will fix that next year.

Darren - this is going to be a fantastic spring in the gorge! With great water flow lasting well into the summer and continued rain keeping things green this is could be a legendary stream and forest shooting year.