Idaho Spring Bear

[gotlag1789]

Thanks, I follow it pretty regularly along with NOAA.

Just meant like locals perspective on like “it’s a crazy snowy year” or like “meh, not that bad this year.”

 

[Customweld]

Thanks, I follow it pretty regularly along with NOAA.

Just meant like locals perspective on like “it’s a crazy snowy year” or like “meh, not that bad this year.”

In SW Idaho, there's a lot of snow right now. From 3500 feet on up. The snow below 4- 4.5k can come off pretty fast with warm March temps but there is a lot above that. It snowed all but 3 days in February at Brundage and they picked up almost 8 feet in that time.

 

[gotlag1789]

In SW Idaho, there's a lot of snow right now. From 3500 feet on up. The snow below 4- 4.5k can come off pretty fast with warm March temps but there is a lot above that. It snowed all but 3 days in February at Brundage and they picked up almost 8 feet in that time.

That kind of stuff love that. Appreciate the input!! - I always find these precip guides to be fairly inaccurate as we’ve discussed a few pages back.

 

[Customweld]

That kind of stuff love that. Appreciate the input!! - I always find these precip guides to be fairly inaccurate as we’ve discussed a few pages back.

The individual Snotel historical average graphs are pretty accurate. You can watch the daily snow depth report and know exactly how much snow is there. Granted, that’s just for that specific site, but there are enough of them that you can get a good gauge on what that snow pack is doing.

 

[Smit]

Some other portions of the state where around 80-90% based on the snotel report recently

New member but I’ve been reading this forum for years. Mainly this exact one. Old thread but can’t hurt to ask. This year I’ve been able to make time for a spring bear trip. Only thing that is really giving me any trouble/worry is that all of ID is over 100% on snowfall. Would the last week of may be to early this year? Been looking at the northern part of 36. Might still be too early to tell but trying to get a plan together. I’ve been looking at salm river road as another option but I’m not quite sure what to expect.

 

[Customweld]

New member but I’ve been reading this forum for years. Mainly this exact one. Old thread but can’t hurt to ask. This year I’ve been able to make time for a spring bear trip. Only thing that is really giving me any trouble/worry is that all of ID is over 100% on snowfall. Would the last week of may be to early this year? Been looking at the northern part of 36. Might still be too early to tell but trying to get a plan together. I’ve been looking at salm river road as another option but I’m not quite sure what to expect.

AWS Plot

nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov

If you follow these trend lines with this site (happens to be above the Salmon corridor), you'll get an idea of where the snow is more than likely going to be. If you strike the minimum and max years, you'll see that May 16- June 7th is the time frame of absolute snow loss at this site. The '23 snow year was pretty deep and was well above average and continued to build on past the median peak date. It still melted off faster than other years that had less snow pack. The Salmon River road should be well melted off by the last week of May.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Winter ain't over.

Randy

 

[Smit]

Winter ain't over.

Randy

Yea I keep looking at the weather and snow just keeps on being forecasted. I’m guessing it will all boil down to how warm the spring is? Just trying to e scout as many places while watching the elevation and got to wondering if the creek bottoms are at 6k and the mtn peaks are 9k if the snow will still be laying in the bottoms. Don’t have to worry about this on the east coast. I know it’s still early as hell.

 

[packgoatguy]

I'll also point out that the snotel sites are not always at the highest point of a mountain pass. So... if the snotel site is 500-1000 feet lower, or on a sunny part of the road... you might be surprised to find 3ft snowdrifts blocking your path for a few weeks after the snotel shows no snow.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

While the snotel sites might be holding a lot of snow it’s been 60° in the treasure valley and the foothills up to about 4500 feet look barren of snow. I think it’s going to be an easy year for access to bears personally but I do most of my bear hunting around the 5-6000’ range like most everyone else in Idaho


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[Smit]

While the snotel sites might be holding a lot of snow it’s been 60° in the treasure valley and the foothills up to about 4500 feet look barren of snow. I think it’s going to be an easy year for access to bears personally but I do most of my bear hunting around the 5-6000’ range like most everyone else in Idaho


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Yea I really just want to be able to hike as hard as I can. I can hunt bears here in nc but been itching for years to just have that backcountry experience. My plan for now with the snow is to wait another month or 2 and keep checking the weather. Might call the ranger district when time gets closer to check with them as well.