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Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
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I'm just curious about such things as a weather enthusiast, although I'm European and I've never been in any of those two borders.
So, I'm guessing what place along the entire United States - Mexico border receive the greater amount of snow on average. I hope CD weather members from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas may know the answer.
The same goes to the less snowy place along the border between Canada and the U.S., although I guess it may be somewhere near Vancouver.
By the way, I mean land border, not water one and I don't mean Alaska either.
Agree with Lancerman, the sky islands of the northernmost Sierra Madre will be the source of high snowfall on the southern border. The snowiest closest place would be Miller Peak in the Huachucas, followed by the Chiricahuas.
The least snowiest on the CA border would be by the San Juan islands between Burlington and Victoria. The Olympic Mountains cause a rainshadow effect on the island making them a lot dryer than Vancouver or Seattle nearby. You'll find cacti and subtropical plants in peoples yards, it rarely snows there at all.
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silent1Unknown15
Agree with Lancerman, the sky islands of the northernmost Sierra Madre will be the source of high snowfall on the southern border. The snowiest closest place would be Miller Peak in the Huachucas, followed by the Chiricahuas.
The least snowiest on the CA border would be by the San Juan islands between Burlington and Victoria. The Olympic Mountains cause a rainshadow effect on the island making them a lot dryer than Vancouver or Seattle nearby. You'll find cacti and subtropical plants in peoples yards, it rarely snows there at all.
That's interesting, thaks.
However, these mountains are somewhat 40 or 50 kilometres away to the border. Anyway, I'm checking the area with topographic contour lines by Google Maps, so right in the exact place where Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico meet there are mountains around 1400 metres above sea level, which is somewhat lower than those mountains you've told.
Following the border a few kilometres heading west, near Yaqui Canyon in the Coronado area, there are 1800 metres above sea level.
Therefore, I guess that wouldn't be quite common to receive heavy snowfall right in the proper border by southeastern Arizona, or at least is less common than in the Miller and Chiricahuas peaks.
For the Canadian border, I guess that from late November to early March perhaps 95% of the U.S. - Canada border is permanently covered with snow almost every winter.
That's interesting, thaks.
However, these mountains are somewhat 40 or 50 kilometres away to the border. Anyway, I'm checking the area with topographic contour lines by Google Maps, so right in the exact place where Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico meet there are mountains around 1400 metres above sea level, which is somewhat lower than those mountains you've told.
Following the border a few kilometres heading west, near Yaqui Canyon in the Coronado area, there are 1800 metres above sea level.
Therefore, I guess that wouldn't be quite common to receive heavy snowfall right in the proper border by southeastern Arizona, or at least is less common than in the Miller and Chiricahuas peaks.
For the Canadian border, I guess that from late November to early March perhaps 95% of the U.S. - Canada border is permanently covered with snow almost every winter.
I'm not sure if it would be 95% honestly. The Prairies are cold, but their winters are also quite dry so you won't get much snow accumulation. All it takes is a Chinook to melt it away (mainly applicable to western Prairie). The BC Interior can be warm and sunny, and somewhat dry, so often it doesn't have consistent snowpack in the valleys, although the high elevations are of course a completely different story. And southern Ontario also often lacks consistent snowpack, especially at the Niagara and ON-MI border.
The snowiest stretches of the border would be ON-MN and ME-NB/QC.
The snowiest stretches of the border would be ON-MN and ME-NB/QC.
No….The snowiest stretch of the US Canadian border is right along the North Cascades of Washington State and the Northern Rockies stretching into Idaho and NW Montana. It’s not even close. Many of those spots never melt out in summer.
Mount Baker is just south of the border in WA State and holds official world record snowfall at 1100+ inches. There have been unofficial estimates of 1500+ inches along the border with Canada in the North Cascades. 800 + inches of annual snowfall is not unusual. Slightly east of the North Cascades is the Pasayten Wilderness which basically connects the N. Rockies and Cascades. It is the largest area of tundra in the Lower 48 and regularly receives snow as late August. Even places further inland in North Idaho and Montana record 300+ inch winter seasons on a regular basis.
That is true some of the interior valleys BC can be dry in winter. Particularly the okanogan. But that is the exception compared to most of the NW border.
The funny thing is the least snowiest spot along the Canadian border is probably 50 miles SW of the snowiest location in the San Juan Islands right along Puget Sound.
Last edited by Thealpinist; 03-06-2024 at 03:02 PM..
No….The snowiest stretch of the US Canadian border is right along the North Cascades of Washington State and the Northern Rockies stretching into Idaho and NW Montana. It’s not even close. Many of those spots never melt out in summer.
Mount Baker is just south of the border in WA State and holds official world record snowfall at 1100+ inches. There have been unofficial estimates of 1500+ inches along the border with Canada in the North Cascades. 800 + inches of annual snowfall is not unusual. Slightly east of the North Cascades is the Pasayten Wilderness which basically connects the N. Rockies and Cascades. It is the largest area of tundra in the Lower 48 and regularly receives snow as late August. Even places further inland in North Idaho and Montana record 300+ inch winter seasons on a regular basis.
That is true some of the interior valleys BC can be dry in winter. Particularly the okanogan. But that is the exception compared to most of the NW border.
The funny thing is the least snowiest spot along the Canadian border is probably 50 miles SW of the snowiest location in the San Juan Islands right along Puget Sound.
I meant in a broader sense, like if you divide the border into 200-300 mile segments, and in terms of duration of snowpack rather than annual snowfall.
I thought places like Grand Forks BC, Trail BC, Creston BC, Eureka MT, Northport WA would have fewer days of snow cover than the MN or ME border?
I meant in a broader sense, like if you divide the border into 200-300 mile segments, and in terms of duration of snowpack rather than annual snowfall.
I thought places like Grand Forks BC, Trail BC, Creston BC, Eureka MT, Northport WA would have fewer days of snow cover than the MN or ME border?
All of those crossings are valley locations that average 50+ inches of snowfall a season. In terms of consistent and deep snowpack the border in NW United States bordering BC is much more consistently snowy and has snowpack well into Summer. Much more so than Maine or Michigan it’s not even close. The average annual snow depth in northern Minnesota doesn’t even break triple digits.
The NW border is mostly mountainous with high plateaus and some narrow valleys.. It’s not a small area either. Easily 400 miles of continuous mountains from Glacier National Park in Montana all the way nearly to North Cascades National Park in Washington State. That entire tier is much more consistently snowy with continuous coverage well into summer. Easily 8 months a year in large areas with snow on the ground. Of course most of those places are not habitable.
This is the current snowpack situation as of March 6th which illustrates my point.
Last edited by Thealpinist; 03-06-2024 at 05:49 PM..
I would guess the snowiest spot literally on the US / Mexican border would be the in Patagonia Mountains. Which top out about 6,000 ft at the border. The Huachuca mountains top out at about 5,400 feet on the border and are farther east. Farther east less snow falls typically.
All of those crossings are valley locations that average 50+ inches of snowfall a season. In terms of consistent and deep snowpack the border in NW United States bordering BC is much more consistently snowy and has snowpack well into Summer. Much more so than Maine or Michigan it’s not even close. The average annual snow depth in northern Minnesota doesn’t even break triple digits.
The NW border is mostly mountainous with high plateaus and some narrow valleys.. It’s not a small area either. Easily 400 miles of continuous mountains from Glacier National Park in Montana all the way nearly to North Cascades National Park in Washington State. That entire tier is much more consistently snowy with continuous coverage well into summer. Easily 8 months a year in large areas with snow on the ground. Of course most of those places are not habitable.
This is the current snowpack situation as of March 6th which illustrates my point.
okay, but this winter was basically the warmest on record or close to it for the Great Lakes, and warmer than average for the east coast as well, and I believe it's been snowier than average and reasonably cold on the western border.
Thunder Bay temp anomalies
Dec: +8.8C
Jan: +4.7C
Feb: +5.2C
Mar 1-5: +9.0C
Thunder Bay also got only 1-2cm of snow this February compared to the normal 21cm. When I was living there, the snowpack typically lasted into mid April, so it's melted off about 6 weeks earlier than normal. 50cm of snowpack would not be unusual for early March. I've gone hiking in the hills surrounding the city and there would still be 1-2ft of snow in early-mid April.
April 1, 2017
April 15, 2017
April 23, 2017 - snow is gone but there's still remnants of shoreline ice
April 8, 2018, the top of the hill where I took this photo from had about 2ft snow depth, it took me about an hour to walk half a mile because I had no snowshoes and the snow was icy and crusted over.
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