Mount Shasta

The avalanche danger remains LOW. Expect dirty and rough snow surfaces with earthly objects beginning to show. Yee-haw. Temperatures are warming into the weekend. Watch for falling rock and ice on the upper mountain. North wind will continue today, but begin to back off over the next 24 hours.

Our Valentine's storm ended a period of 36 days without precipitation. This is a new winter record. According to our friends at NWS Medford, the last record for their area was 27 days set in 1976 and 1984. Of the top 6 records set, 5 were La Nina years. We, too, are in a La Nina year.

October was the wettest on record for Northern California due to the occurrence of a rapid drop in pressure that intensified an offshore storm. By the end of October, Mount Shasta had received close to 50 inches of snow. December was also cold and productive for snow, which brought tallies up to 141 inches.

Despite the dry January and February, statewide average precipitation is not far from normal due to the weather events in October and December. This is changing every dry day that we get.

Thanks to NWS Medford and Weather West for the information.