The basics of the rain shadow effect

The Rain Shadow effect

   The north/south orientation of the 400 mile long Sierra Nevada acts as a barrier to westerly winds carrying storms from the moist Pacific Ocean to the east.  The rising air masses cool and condense as they climb up the mountain, forcing the weather system to drop most of its precipitation on the west slope.

The west slope of the Sierra Nevada has large expanses of coniferous forests.

 
 
   The result?  The western side of the mountain range is largely dominated by tall coniferous forests (think pine, fir, cedar) that depend on a high annual rain/snow fall to survive, while the eastern side of the range is dominated by high-desert vegetation (such as sage brush and rabbit brush).

The eastern Sierra Nevada

   Can you imagine what kind of ecological landscape would be in this part of California, if it wasn’t for the Sierra Nevada?

The Sierra Wave-

Lenticular clouds formed by the Sierra Wave

   Playing an essential role in our interesting weather phenomena yet again, the westerly winds that climb the ridges and descend into the troughs of the Sierra Nevada range are well known for regularly creating smooth and mysterious wave (or lenticular) clouds, regionally nicknamed the “Sierra Wave”.  For an excellent description of how these clouds are formed, read NASA’s breakdown of the process here.  In the meantime check out these great shots of clouds formed by the Sierra Wave.

The Sierra Wave.

The Sierra Wave from above. Image provided by NASA.

Satellite image of Tule Fog filling the Central Valley.

Tule fog
   In winter months, cold air from the mountains sinks down to the paralleling Central Valley at night, causing the moist air of the fertile valley to condense into a dense fog known locally as the Tule Fog (named after the tule grass wetlands that once covered much of the valley).

View from above: Looking down into the Valley at Tule Fog from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

   The valley has little air flow since it is capped on all ends by mountain ranges, and fog can linger all day long, causing traffic accidents and chilling the air for valley residents. The Tule Fog can run the  400 mile length of the valley all the way from Red Bluff down to Bakersfield!

And even a tornado?

   So much for tornado alley!  In July 2004, the highest elevation tornado ever recorded touched down near Rockwell Pass (about 11,600 feet) in the southern Sierra. Such a mountainous topography is a rare setting for tornado formation (especially at such a high elevation), and this article breaks down the science behind its formation.  Very cool.

   What is your favorite weather event from wherever you are from? Share with us here!

-Julia Stephens, CSERC Blogger

Tamarack, CA just west of Bear Valley Ski Area holds the:
- U.S. snowfall record for one month: 390 inches (32.5 ft) in January 1911
- U.S. seasonal snow depth record: 454 inches (37.8 ft) on March 10^th, 1911.

How did all this record-breaking weather begin?

On New Year’s Day in 1911, many of the Sierra Nevada passes remained unusually free of snow, much as our very own passes are currently lacking in snow. Also, as is the case this winter, the prior winter in 1910 had been a La Nina year and it was still being determined whether or not La Nina would continue into the winter of 1911. Overall, the weather was unseasonably mild at this time and it’s likely that people thought they might be in for a mild winter.

On January 10th, 1911, to the astonishment of everyone, La Nina came in at full force.  The most intense winter storm in 21 years roared out the Gulf of Alaska and charged into the Central Sierra. The storm caused high winds and widespread flooding in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills. Some areas received up to 20 inches of rain over a 5-day period. Above 5,000 feet in the mountains, snow was estimated at times to be accumulating at a rate of 12 inches an hour. Avalanches were widespread and shut down train traffic throughout the Sierra snow belt. Several pack trains also got stuck in the storm.

On January 27^th, 1911, another storm barreled into the Sierra Nevada. The Tamarack Weather Station tallied 390 inches (32.5 feet) of snow for the month of January. Later that winter, on March 10th, 1911, an astonishing record snow depth of 37.8 feet was also recorded in Tamarack!

So, what sort of winter are we in for in 2012 – nearly a century later?

Perhaps, it will stay mellow and be a dry year. Yet again, as seen in 1911, mother nature always has the possibility of having a few things up her sleeve. What a surprise she had in store for people living in 1911 who probably looked at the dry weather in December as a possible sign of a mild winter. Is it likely we will have another record year? Probably not. Yet, learning about the past winter of 1911 definitely makes a person stop and ponder what is possible.

What are your thoughts on this coming winter?

-Heather Campbell, CSERC Blogger

(Information sourced from the Mark McLaughlin, Weather Historian, Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum)

Natural Holiday Gift Ideas

1. Native seeds- Everyone loves flowers, especially when you grow them yourself.  Give a collection of native seeds to your loved one this year!  If you live in California, Larner Seeds is a great Nursery with an online site where you can order according to the region of California you are from!

2.  Frame your own nature photograph- Remember the awesome hike you went on this past summer up in the mountains?  I’ll bet you took some great scenic photos on your camera. Why not enlarge one of them and frame it for a gift?

3.  Buy your loved one a CSA membership to your local farm for 2012- The gift of sustainable, locally grown produce.  Have you heard of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)?  The concept is this: you “subscribe” to a local farm and receive a weekly box of goodies fresh from the harvest.  Its delicious, nutritious, and sustainable!  Read more about the concept here.  We have some great local farms to buy a CSA share from here in Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties: Red Earth Farm, Blue Oak Farm, and Outer Aisle Foods all deserve your business.

4.  Buy a season pass to your local park- What could be better than unlimited access to your nearby park or refuge?  The National Park pass is $80 and allows unlimited entry to any and all National Parks in the United States for one full year. A year-long pass to Yosemite is $40. A bit more expensive is the California State Park Pass, at $125.

Andy Goldsworthy

5.  Of course, the gift of time is always valuable-  Take your loved one to a beautiful scenic destination, or spend the day making a nature sculpture with the kids-at-heart in your family.  There are some great nature sculpture ideas, here and here.

6. Enroll your giftee in a field course through your local community college- I have taken field courses that run 1-4 days in length from Columbia College (our local CC), on topics including wildflower identification, mushroom identification, and Sierra Nevada natural history. They are great ways to get to know your local ecology better, visit beautiful locations, and meet cool people interested in nature.

7.  Give to nature in honor of your friend/family- Support your local environmental non-profit organization (like CSERC!), and make the donation in the name of your loved one.

What did I miss? Share you great natural gift idea with us here.

The camera footage we get from these stations are not only informative but often quite entertaining!  Not every animal that visits our stations is considered “rare”, but they all help provide valuable information about which animals are thriving in our mountains, and where they can be found. Watching the fast-sequence photos of animals investigating the bait left by our staff, this year I had the inspiration to make YouTube videos of our best footage.  Have you seen any of them yet?  If not (or you just want to watch them again), here they are for your viewing pleasure!
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
Let me know what you think, and which one you enjoyed the most!

-Julia Stephens, CSERC Blogger

Day 3: Huckleberry Lake to Snow Lake

Made it to Snow Lake!  And man, it was worth the effort.  I sit alone (no offense Monster) in a High Sierra paradise!  I got up this morning around 6:30 and was on the trail by 8:30 (yes it took me 2 hours to get ready).  Most of the day was spent continuing up the East Fork Cherry Creek Drainage.  Smoother sailing today in terms of there being a trail, and I made much better time as a result.  Much of my route has been used by horses, making it very dusty and rocky from a hiker’s perspective.  Bugs were still really bad, and I could hardly stop to take pictures without getting barraged, so many of the flowers I admired will have to just be a fond memory.

Horse Meadow was especially nice (after a long climb out of the creek canyon), and I had an excellent lunch break by the meandering Creek that runs through it.  Even though we gained around 1500 feet elevation today, the rise was pretty gradual over the 9 miles hiked, so it really wasn’t too bad.

Snow Lake was a sight to behold, hard to describe all of the amazing scenic wonders of this place so hopefully my pictures can do it some justice.

I will say this about Snow Lake-  on top of their being the coolest granite mountain to ever hover over a lake, there is also a thousand foot waterfall from a towering volcanic ridgeline to take in.  Not to mention there is a steady breeze across the lake keeping those pesky bugs away.

Orzo with palak paneer and a miso soup appetizer for dinner!

Day 4: Snow Lake to High Emigrant Lake

Mellow-ish day today.  But before we get to today, let’s talk about last night!  At about 1:30 am, I awaken to the pitter-patter of little raindrops on my tent.  After laying there not wanting to deal with the situation, I finally convince myself that if I stay where I am and it really starts to downpour I am going to get flooded in my tent.  Grumblingly I hoist myself out of my bag, throw my shoes on, and go through the ordeal of dragging my setup to a better sheltered and non-flood-prone site.  Monster looked at me during this as though he was certain I had lost my mind.  And did it rain anymore after this? Not one drop.

Its nice hiking packless!

Anyways, my goal today was to get to Emigrant Lake, only a 4 mile hike, allowing me some leisure time to enjoy my present location.  I enjoyed a hike without my pack around Snow Lake before getting started.What I really enjoyed today was being pretty much above the E. Fork Cherry Creek drainage and seeing down into the canyon to all of the places I had been hiking through for the past few days, including iconic landmarks such as Sachse Monument.  I crossed over Cherry Creek one more time, by now a small trickle of a creek, and according to my map its headwaters were just 1/4-mile above me.

I moved into a mosaic of volcanic and granitic landscape as I crossed over Emigrant Pass and arrived at High Emigrant Lake, a beautiful open landscape!  A storm was blowing in as I set up camp, so I took extra care to set up camp just right to shelter myself from the elements.  Did it end up raining? Not one drop!

Getting a little R&R at High Emigrant Lake

Unnamed lake near High Emigrant Lake

Emigrant Meadow Lake

Day 5: High Emigrant Lake to Leavitt Lake

Hanging out at Leavitt Lake now with my boyfriend, final destination achieved- life is sweet! Forty miles total hiked, sandwiches, beer, sunshine, and human company.  Monster has crawled into the truck and has immediately passed out, today really wiped him out.

Looking towards my morning climb

Today’s hike was a good one- up one steep mountain (great views of the East/West divide of the Sierra Nevada), down its backside, and then back up and over Leavitt Pass.  Actually, I feel really good, not too tired and my pace felt really strong the whole time.  Did I mention the views were AMAZING?  I finally hit my stride, and  feel like I could keep going!

This trip was truly amazing, and I am proud of successfully navigating my journey solo.  It was a lot of work doing everything myself, with no one to help set up camp, pump water, cook dinner, hang the bear bag, etc.  At times the responsibilities of taking care of me and Monster out here overwhelmed the sense of being on a vacation.  But I did it and it feels great, and I am grateful for all of the gifts that this trip has given me.

I hope you enjoyed the tale of my trip through the Emigrant Wilderness! Thank you for letting me share with you and please share in return any of your special trips, and pictures that you have taken, of your favorite back-country places.

-Julia Stephens, CSERC Blogger

Starting out...

Day 1- Kibbie Ridge to Lord Meadow

A challenging first day for my first trip of the year, with 11 miles and an over all elevation gain of 1400 feet.  Traveling solo weighs me down more than is ideal, and I’m starting to envy those folks who invest in ultra-lightweight gear!

Hiking along Kibbie Ridge.

I started at the Kibbie Lake trailhead, just above Cherry Lake, and the first 5-6 miles was an uphill climb through dusty forest, in an area that is still recovering from a fire that happened in 2003.

Heading down from Styx Pass

I finally reached Styx Pass, the tipping point before you head down into the East Fork Cherry Creek Canyon, which I would be hiking in for the next few days. I descended into the canyon towards Lord Meadow.  What a surprise my destination was! I had no idea how scenic this spot would be – I was honestly just expecting a place near water to sleep for the night.

Arriving at Lord Meadow, and the East Fork Cherry Creek.

Past glacial episodes appear to have really carved out this creek into a wide and flat granite basin. The creek has taken on a meandering pattern this time of year (with lower flows), there are lots of deep clear pools with beautiful rock bottoms.  I immediately indulged in a swim (as did my happy dog Monster) and the temperature was perfect!  This spot has already made the trip worth it.  Spanish rice with tortilla, black beans, and cheese for dinner- yum!

The view from Styx Pass, looking down into the East Fork Cherry Creek

Day 2: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry Lake

I hiked to Huckleberry Lake today, around 8 miles total.  It was so scenic following the E. Fork Cherry Creek up – really I had no idea what a treat I was in for.  More granite pools and beautiful cascades along most of the hike.
It’s a good thing the landscape is easy to read, and I was grateful that I had brought the detailed quadrangle maps of this area since the trail is very hit or miss.  There were long stretches where I just hiked along the granite by the creek, or followed the landscape approximately where the map said the trail was supposed to be.  One time I decided not to take the detour from the creek shown on the map, up and around a granite nob and back to the creek, and instead stayed on the creek.  Mistake! Lots of difficult scrambling that took too much time.  I almost back-tracked but didn’t. Huckleberry Lake is actually part of the East Fork Cherry Creek drainage, but has had a check dam that maintains its lake status presently.  The mosquitoes are bad here! I have a great camp spot with an awesome view of the Lake, but I can hear all the mosquitoes buzzing around my tent as I write this.  Lots of biting flies, too (shudder).  Poor Monster, I had pity on him as I watched the bugs feast on his face and let him into my tent tonight, he’s made himself at home quickly and is snoring away.

Monster and me by Huckleberry Lake (met a hiker who took our pic). Yes, my shirt is buttoned wrong!

Three more days to go! Stay tuned for the next and last installment of “Backpacking the east side of the Emigrant”

-Julia Stephens, CSERC Blogger

Some of the awesome places I may visit on the way!

I  wanted to take the kind of trip that got me somewhere instead of returning to the same trailhead, and also go to a place in our area that I had never been before.  Looking at the map, I realized that every time I go backpacking in the Emigrant Wilderness I come in from the west side and head east, but never seem to make it all the way out to the boundary of the Emigrant and Yosemite.  If I came in from Cherry Lake in the southern end and headed north along the eastern boundary I could exit at Leavitt Lake and arrange rides relatively easily from these locations – not mention enjoy parts of the Emigrant I’ve never seen before!

Monster 'n me last summer on a trip in the Emigrant.

I’ve been packing and preparing for the past few days making sure that my awesome trail dog Monster and I have everything that we need to make the trip happily, while not overloading ourselves. I wrote a huge checklist days ago to think about the various items I need so I can check off the items and make sure that I don’t forget an essential item in the rush (nothing like getting 15 miles out and realizing you left your stove fuel at home!).  This morning I packed it all up and weighed in to see how much of a load I would be carrying.  Water included I wanted to keep the load to 35 pounds.  As I hefted my bag to the scale, I already knew that I was in for disappointment, but I must admit that my heart sank as I realized my pack was at 45 pounds!

So now I’m on my way home to see what I can possibly get rid of before heading out, and to do any other last minute preparations.  I hope I have fun, manage not to hurt my back, and make it to my ride at the other side on time – I’ll fill you on my adventures when I return!

-Julia Stephens, CSERC Blogger

We had wanted to camp in the Emigrant Wilderness since there are so many great alpine lakes to make a destination of, but lingering snow from the past winter had reportedly shut out many a hiker from our preferred destinations. We set our sights instead on the Carson-Iceberg since much of it is south facing and the majority of snow was already gone.

Lindsey had already been to the lake and recommended it as a place to go, but her vague description of it made me anticipate a somewhat unattractive and swampy lake.  Instead of taking a lot of time to  build up the story, I’ll just tell you that it far exceeded what I expected and was great for so many reasons!  Just the sight of many old-growth sugar pine and cedar trees surrounding the lake made the trip worth it.  The lake isn’t particularly big, but it’s surrounded by granite great for lounging on, and the water temperature is perfect. The view from the lake is epic! It sits right at the top of the Middle Fork Stanislaus River canyon and you can see for miles up to the Sonora Pass area.  You can also see Niagara Falls across the canyon. On top of that there is a swampy pond right next to the main lake, filled with a floating peat bed with all sorts of cool plants.

Enough describing, here are some photos (click on a picture if you’d like to see it in a larger scale).

I hope you can understand why I don’t want to advertise the name of this lake on the internet.  I’ve seen to many special places get over visited and I don’t want to be the one responsible for doing that to this place. But, please do email me if you want to know more and I will gladly provide the information!

-Julia Stephens, CSERC Blogger

      Connecting with nature and spending time in it is a large part of who I am as a person!  Being outside and exploring the mountains around me keeps my sense of wonder open, and always gets me excited to learn something new.

      Someone recently asked me about where my love of nature came from, and I had to think about it for a minute.  At first, I said it was a big road trip traveling west I took with friends when I was 18, where I camped under the stars away from city lights and saw some of the amazing natural landscapes our country has for the first time.  But as I reflected back on my childhood, I realized that my connection with the outdoors goes much further back.

      I grew up in the suburbs outside of Baltimore, Maryland, where everyone has a big green lawn that substitutes for the natural forest setting that once resided there.  Great for family barbecues, but not very interesting for a child’s imagination.  However, just up and over the hill from our house was a little strip of forest with a seasonal creek that ran through it that had remained relatively untouched.  My brother and I were drawn to this wild spot, and this is where we spent most of our summer afternoons – building forts and booby traps, splashing in the creek, turning over rocks to find whatever was living there, and climbing trees.  I still remember over twenty years later all the notches on my favorite tree that I used as footings to climb to its top branches!

      There was nothing particularly special about this little patch of forest.  It wasn’t more than a couple of acres, and the other side of it was a parking lot for a church.  But it was different and wild and it let me be a kid in a non-structured environment, while sharpening my appreciation and awareness of nature.  I was taking in the smell of the earth, the sound of wind blowing in the trees, the behavior of the residential songbirds without realizing it.

      The reason I didn’t think of this place right away was because I didn’t associate that small area with nature, it was just part of my childhood experience!  Once I thought about it, I was grateful for that little forest and how much it has shaped me into who I am now.  My point is that I realized I don’t need to make some big trip to the mountains or a National Park in order to experience nature.  Just sitting in my backyard and taking the time to interact and observe what’s happening around me I can get that connection.  I feel this is really important for all of us to have some place like this, especially as we spend more time inside and are at-risk of losing that bond in the face of technology.

      I moved to a new house a few months ago, and I’ve found my new nature spots to hang out and unwind outside.  One of them is two hammocks that we’ve hung in the trees in our front yard, and they’ve given me lots of live natural entertainment.  Laying there, I get to watch the swaying of pine trees in the wind, squirrels and birds coming and going (including one especially comical pileated woodpecker), the changing patterns in the clouds, and feel the warmth of the spring sun.

      Where is your natural spot that gets you to pay attention and be part of your surroundings?  When and where did you first find your nature connection?  Did this blog help inspire you to get outside and find that connection once again?  Please, share with me!

- Julia Stephens, CSERC Associate

Springtime in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Spring weather has finally arrived, and the lush green that covers the foothills is especially refreshing as we recover from an unusually harsh winter. The newly budded green leaves of the deciduous blue oak woodlands inspired me, and I couldn’t resist taking a hike amongst them yesterday afternoon, despite an already overloaded schedule.

How could I resist? In just a few more weeks the “lush green” grasses of the foothills will turn to brown as the summer sun cranks up, and I’ll be forced to find refuge from the heat higher in the mountains.

I headed to the Table Mountain trail which meanders through an understory of oaks, before beginning a steep ascent up to the top of the iconic landmark. Walking below the canopy of old-growth blue oaks that truly dominates the landscape in this region, it’s clear that this tree is a keystone species for wildlife and plants of the foothills. According to a Fish and Game publication, in blue oak woodlands of the western Sierra Nevada “29 species of amphibians and reptiles, 57 species of birds, and 10 species of mammals find mature stages of this type suitable or optimum for breeding”. Other documents discuss the dozens of moss and lichen species found in this habitat, many of them rare.

The list of blue oak’s ecological importance is a mile long, and habitat loss combined with difficulty regenerating seedlings make preserving the remaining areas they are found critical. But instead of going into the intricate details of why conservation of these trees is so important, I’d like to encourage you to take advantage of the season, and head out to the nearest place you can enjoy these beauties in their natural environment and experience for yourself the value of these kings-of-the-foothills. Here’s some pictures from yesterday’s adventures to help motivate you to do just that!  (scroll your mouse over each picture for captions, and click on a picture to see the image enlarged)

Did this inspire you to take your own hike?  Share with us your experience here, or on CSERC’s Facebook page!