Natural History Wanderings

Last night the Yosemite Blog reported

The Tioga Road and Tioga Pass will be closing at 5pm today, Thursday October 19, 2017, due to the possibility of snow from an approaching weather front. The road will be evaluated Friday morning to determine if it will reopen or remain closed for the season. Currently no overnight parking is allowed along the Tioga Road or the Glacier Point Road.

If the Tioga Road closes Highway 4 (Ebbets Pass) and Highway 108 (Sonora Pass) will most likely close as well.

Please call 209-372-0200 (press 1 then 1) for the most up-to-date road conditions.

Source: Tioga Pass Closing at 5pm – YosemiteBlog.com

At 7:38 am  this morning CalTrans reports:

SR 120

[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA] IS CLOSED FROM CRANE FLAT TO 3.5 MI WEST OF THE NORTH JCT OF US 395 /TIOGA PASS/ (TUOLUMNE, MONO CO) – DUE TO SNOW – MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE [YOSEMITE NAT’L PARK] FOR YOSEMITE NAT’L PARK ROAD INFORMATION CALL 209-372-0200

SR 108

[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA] IS CLOSED FROM 26.4 MI EAST OF STRAWBERRY (TUOLUMNE CO) TO 3 MI WEST OF THE JCT OF US 395 (MONO CO) /SONORA PASS/ – DUE TO SNOW – MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE CHAINS OR SNOW TIRES ARE REQUIRED FROM 8.7 MI EAST OF STRAWBERRY TO 10 MI EAST OF STRAWBERRY (TUOLUMNE CO)

SR 4

[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA]IS CLOSED FROM 0.5 MI EAST OF THE JCT OF SR 207 /MT REBA TURNOFF/ TO THE JCT OF SR 89 /EBBETTS PASS/ (ALPINE CO) – DUE TO SNOW – MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE CHAINS OR SNOW TIRES ARE REQUIRED FROM 3.5 MI EAST OF COTTAGE SPRINGS (CALAVERAS CO) TO THE MT REBA TURNOFF (ALPINE CO) 1-WAY CONTROLLED TRAFFIC AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS FROM UPPER MORAN RD /IN ARNOLD/ TO BIG TREES STATE PARK ENTRANCE (CALAVERAS CO) FROM 060