Great Forest Service web maps for snow cover & road problems

[wildhiker]

I just found these Forest Service web maps that are maintained by the Region 5 office here in California. Each plots data on a geo-referenced Google-map style interface.

Sierra Nevada estimated snow depth from satellite observations:
https://www.fs.fed.us/r5/webmaps/SierraSnowDepth
All I can say is Wow - most of the Sierra is in the 8 to 16 FOOT depth range, and some parts of northern Yosemite estimate in the 17 to 24 FOOT depth range! The map doesn't say if they are updating daily with the latest satellite data, but the one ground observation from Wandering Daisy on the weekend on snow levels west of Lake Tahoe (http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... 34&t=15831) matches up well with today's FS snow depth view.

California National Forest storm damage 2017:
https://www.fs.fed.us/r5/webmaps/StormDamage2017/
This one is an eye-opener! Zoom in on your area of interest and then you can click on the symbols to get text blocks indicating slides, road failures, etc. A lot of trailheads on national forest back roads might be impassable even after the snow melts due to road damage.

-Phil