royal gorge this friday afternoon???

they are predicting rain tomorrow and friday. i was thinking...i can
get off work early friday and if it were raining i was hoping it would
be snowing
and COLD up at RG which means i could skate ski in the afternoon
instead of it being warm and slushy.
i live in sacramento so it is about an hour drive.
anyone willing to make a prediction?
i can't go this weekend have other duties...

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In article .com,
wintermutt wrote:
they are predicting rain tomorrow and friday. i was thinking...i can
get off work early friday and if it were raining i was hoping it would
be snowing
and COLD up at RG which means i could skate ski in the afternoon
instead of it being warm and slushy.
i live in sacramento so it is about an hour drive.
anyone willing to make a prediction?
i can't go this weekend have other duties...


_ Reading the NWS reports suggests initial snow levels at 8500
dropping to 6500, that puts RG right on the margins, even as the
storm gets colder. The lapse rate is roughly
3 degrees per 1K feet, so you've got a roughly 20 degree drop
in temperature between SAC and RG. If SAC high temps are
in the 50's it will be fine, 60's iffy and 70's rain.

_ Booker C. Bense

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thankyou! so if i read this correctly if sac is 59 degress or less it
should be OK at RG.

Dear Mr. Mutt (or may I call you Winter?)

First of all, my opinion, to borrow a phrase, is always that the worst
day skiing is still better than the best day at work, so by all means
drive up and try it out. Trying to predict the snow level at any time
around here is somewhat of a crapshoot, but in the spring you're
definitely shooting darts blindfolded. Lapse Rates are all well and
good, but a couple of hundred feet in the rain/snow level can make a
huge difference at the Gorge or TD, and lapse rates don't account for
orographic effects, microtopography, and the like. So looking at your
thermometer down in the valley and rushing up when it reaches 59 is
pretty dubious.

Even though this particular storm is supposed to start out pretty warm,
temps will drop quickly, and I really don't think there will be much
rain by Friday, and it should be snow. Problem is, esp. this time of
year, if ol' man Sol starts a-peekin' out on Friday, that new snow will
turn pretty "glue-ey" awful quick, and often needs a day to transform
again. So just assuming that the afternoon will be good skiing because
it's new snow and not rain doesn't necessarily bode true, and sometimes
just rain on the snowpack can make for some really fast, good skating.

Either way, have fun. And Booker: what's all that stuff that always
shows up after your Signature? And what's a PGP signature, anyway?

Mark

i did not know rain could be a good thing...
an alpine skiier in the office next to me said i should just check the
conditions
for sugarbowl on the web. he thinks the base there is about the same
elevation as RG.
i may buy a season pass for RG for next year they have quite a discount
if you buy soon enough. got to make it up 13 times to break even.
i figure if i can be 1/2 as fast as those skiiers who were lapping me
during the gold rush
then i would be close to attaining skating nirvana.
first you become one with your skis.
then you become fast with your skis using only your heart.
the final act of every skiier is to finally drop your skis.
just before entering your nursing home!
(apologies to the writers of "hero".)

There's also a Kingvale webcam on the Caltrans web site. As you know,
Kingvale is the exit before you get to Soda Springs. Not sure if
anyone mentioned that.

bt

FWIW, no rain today. Just snow at the 6,800 ft. level, about 2 inches
of new and still coming down at a decent clip. (Hey BT, maybe I should
just set up a webcam on the back deck?)

Mark

Don't bother, your view sucks. ;-)

bt

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In article .com,
wintermutt wrote:
thankyou! so if i read this correctly if sac is 59 degress or less it
should be OK at RG.


_ I wouldn't go that far, but it's a lot more likely to be good
than if it's 70 in sac. They're mountains and make there own
weather, especially in the Norden area due to the topography.
I have a lot further to drive and the 50/60/70 is just a rule
of thumb I use to figure out whether I need to go high or low.
I generally go regardless.

_ Booker C. Bense


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