I’ll try to keep this one brief. Thus far, it has been a snowless winter season. It’s not that there has been no precipitation, it has in fact had a decent amount of rain, but there hasn’t been a stitch of snow. Everyone has indeed been dreaming of a white Christmas. Thankfully, storms came through the Mount Shasta area before, on and after Christmas. Much of it fell as rain but around my house, we ended up with 6 inches of snow. Oddly enough, though Mount Shasta was completely enveloped in the storm on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas (Boxing Day?) I could see the mountain through the storm. This, despite it raining and snowing hard at my house. Leave it to Mount Shasta’s rainshadow over the Shasta Valley to continue to provide clarity when all else is obscured.
On days before Christmas Eve, it had been raining hard over the valley but by the end of the day itself, it cleared up enough to see the mountain. Even better, all the precipitation had finally restored the pools that lie scattered around the valley, returning the possibility of reflections of Mount Shasta from the north. On Christmas Eve it was too windy for a good reflection, but the return of the possibility was like a little pre-Christmas stocking stuffer.
I may be the only one who enjoys the time lapse views of Mount Shasta but I can’t get enough of the way the conditions change. This particular time lapse from Christmas Eve was great. It showed the storm and some interesting clouds but by the end of the day it was sunny. However, the storm that was dropping copious amounts of rain (and soon snow as well) at my house was visible, hanging low to the ground. It seemed like Mount Shasta was like a giant rampart, holding the storm back. It is a striking answer to the question of why the Shasta Valley is a desert.
The morning after Christmas it was snowing at my house (it would ultimately leave 6 inches) but once again, it was clear over the valley. While the kids slept, I headed up again, to see what I could see. It was extremely windy and the storm raged to the south. The storm was ferocious enough to envelop Mount Shasta almost completely but the mountain’s profile was still discernable, if only barely. This time, oddly enough, it had a lenticular on it. It was almost indistinguishable from the storm itself, but the layered edges and dome were apparent. Oh yeah, the sunrise was pretty awesome too.
With the storm finally ended, I headed out for one more sunrise, now two days after Christmas. Sun lit snow banners, snow covered trees catching the sunrise light and glowing clouds reflecting in valley pools were all abundant. Winter is finally here. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
Hike Mt. Shasta 