The first significant Pacific storm of winter 2022/23 is currently impacting the San Jacinto mountains. Please check this page for periodic updates – the most recent is at the top – throughout the storm.
UPDATE on Wednesday 9th at 0840
I have just recorded a short video (available here) from San Jacinto Peak giving a feel for current conditions.
About 0.75 inch of snow fell overnight in Idyllwild (at 5550 ft). The remarkable rainfall continued into the early hours of this morning, with final measurements of 3.45 inches in the past 24 hours, and a storm total of 4.01 inches!
San Jacinto Peak added about six inches of snow overnight for a final storm total of 12-13 inches.
Long Valley (at 8600 ft) has an estimated snow depth of 2-3 inches of snow which fell overnight, on top of over three inches of rain in the previous 36 hours.
UPDATE on Tuesday 8th at 1910
Thankfully the precipitation has largely turned back into snow at San Jacinto Peak, where the storm total is now close to 6 inches. Hopeful for significantly more overnight.
The storm total for rain in Idyllwild (at 5550ft) is now at a really impressive 2.32 inches, with 1.76 inches in the last 12 hours.
Kyle Eubanks reported that hiking through Long Valley was like walking through a river. The rain is starting to turn to snow there now, with about 0.5 inch accumulating so far, on top of more than two inches of rain today.
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UPDATE on Tuesday 8th at 1600
Idyllwild has added an impressive 1.25 inches of rain since 0700 this morning, for a storm total already of about 1.8 inches.
Having reached a depth of about 4.5 inches of snow at San Jacinto Peak, there has been negligible new accumulation in the last hour or more. Hiking around I was disappointed to find that the precipitation had turned to freezing rain again, and I quickly got soaked.
The same seems to be happening in Long Valley where the air temperature is fluctuating just above freezing. An impressive rainfall total of at least two inches was accompanied by about 0.25 inch of snow, but some of that seems to have melted in the past hour or so.
UPDATE on Tuesday 8th at 1230
Idyllwild has added another 0.5 inch of rain since 0700 this morning, for a storm total already exceeding one inch.
Steady snowfall at a rate of about one inch per hour in the past couple of hours has accumulated at San Jacinto Peak to a total depth of 3.0 inches.
The freeze level had remained stubbornly high in this relatively mild “atmospheric river” storm. However the air temperature has dropped significantly since 1200, and at Long Valley (8600 ft) the heavy rain has turned to wet snow in the past half hour. Prior to that, Long Valley had about 1.5 inch of rain.
UPDATE on Tuesday 8th at 1030
Idyllwild received a good rain overnight with 0.56 inch recorded by 0700 (at 5550ft).
A barely measurable dusting of 0.25 inch of snow fell at San Jacinto Peak overnight following an estimated 0.2 inch of freezing rain that plastered all the rocks with verglas.
A light snow of fine rounded grains started at about 0800, and current accumulation at San Jacinto Peak is near 1.0 inch. Snow level on my hike this morning was at about 9500 ft, and it is currently raining steadily in Long Valley at 8600 ft.
UPDATE on Monday 7th at 2030
Now raining steadily in Idyllwild. Remarkably it is also mild enough to be raining at San Jacinto Peak, where about 0.15 inch has fallen this afternoon.
UPDATE on Monday 7th at 1830
Cloud cover started to envelop the mountains late this morning. On a hike up to San Jacinto Peak there was a little drizzle on most of Devil’s Slide Trail (6500-8000 ft) in early afternoon. The high country was in the cloud, was dry in places, and occasional drizzle was very light and sparse.
At San Jacinto Peak itself the rocks were covered in very slick verglas although the air temperature was only just below freezing.
In Idyllwild (at 5550 ft) there was brief light drizzle in early afternoon also, enough to dampen surfaces but not even adding up to 0.1 inch.
Long Valley (8600 ft) has remained functionally dry, measuring just 0.01 inch of drizzle.
San Jacinto Trail Report 