Snow update 31st December 2018

Just a brief update prior to a more comprehensive posting tomorrow afternoon. This morning we hiked to San Jacinto Peak from Humber Park, for what was my 126th ascent of the calendar year. On the way up we left the lower elevation cloud behind around 9000′, but it returned and started lightly snowing on us at about 10,000′ elevation. Snowfall at the Peak was erratic, with the cloud level right around 10,800′, and after we left we could see the high country bathed in sunshine again.

It was snowing lightly and intermittently on the descent, and had largely stopped by Saddle Junction. Fresh snowfall totals were: San Jacinto Peak 0.5″, Wellman Divide 1.0″, Wellman’s Cienega 1.5″, Saddle Junction 0.75″, Humber Park 0.5″. Settled snow in Idyllwild was barely 0.25″; although apparently more had fallen (at least 1.0″), it was too mild to settle.

It was chilly at the Peak, although nowhere near as cold as forecast, and much warmer than on Friday as outlined in the previous report. At San Jacinto Peak today at 0930 the air temperature was 16.5°F (-9°C), with a windchill temperature of 0.7°F (-18°C), 100% relative humidity, and a light 6 mph WSW wind gusting to 12 mph.

I recorded a brief video at the Peak this morning, which gives a feel for the conditions.

Finally, a huge thank you to all those supporters and donors who helped make 2018 such a remarkably successful year for the San Jacinto Trail Report, far, far beyond my most optimistic expectations for the project. All those supporters are listed here. If you have found the Report to be useful to you this year, please consider visiting the Donate page. Many thanks. Happy New Year and safe hiking.