Tioga Pass opened yesterday...

[John Kasaian]

---according to Caltrans.

[Drew Wiley]

But snow possibly due this weekend. Memorial Day week has always been dicey for seasonal change tantrums. For many years it was my custom to spend the weekend atop Kaiser Pk for that incredible sunrise panorama. I always took the steep side up - the scenic route, which often had quite a cornice atop the steep chute between Gunsight Pk and Kaiser - good early season ice axe practice. But sometimes I had to forego spending the nite up there and get off the summit fast. Worst lightning storms I've ever seen in my life have been up there. Between that pk and Shuteye is a venturi sucking air past the second highest canyon wall on the continent. Still haven't made high country plans for this summer. But I'll probably zip over one of the passes soon for a brief altitude tune-up.

[Willie]

You are up in the mountains. Two mornings ago I scraped frost from the windshield and side windows before going out to photograph. We are on the Prairie and nowhere near as far above sea level as Yosemite and the passes.

Now, 82 degrees, clean skies with light clouds. No wind at all. Not humid either. Farmers still working spring planting as the spring wheat is sprouting in the fields - helped by rain a few days ago. A beautiful time of year with the American White Pelicans flying overhead, Bald Eagles nesting and the night time singing of the coyotes drowning out the geese on the ponds around us.

[Drew Wiley]

Sounds lovely, Willie. Here on the SF Bay it's about 50 deg with howling wind and our usual cold summer fog. But I was able to do some hiking and shooting yesterday inland during what was the only calm mild day in weeks - and there it's due to turn downright hot by the end of the week. Very beautiful
variegated greens and wildflowers ending Spring, mixed with all kinds of California golden hues announcing summer. Lots of wild turkeys strutting about.
The coyotes eat well this time of year, mostly gophers, get lazy, and are easy to approach, esp the adolescents. They get skittish in summer. We have lesser Canadian geese here year round, with snow geese being the most abundant species migrating through in winter. Wispy cirrus clouds which pass over here
often turn into storms a day later in the Sierras. Tremendous altitude difference.