A summer that looks a whole lot more like winter has travelers across the West scrambling to revise their Fourth of July itineraries – or at least their packing lists.
Ski poles are replacing fishing poles at popular hiking and camping spots where late-winter snowstorms blanketed Western mountains from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada.
"A lot of people are calling it the trifecta day, where they're going to ski in the morning, mountain bike in the afternoon, maybe do something on the lake in the evening," said Julie Mauer, a spokeswoman at Sierra ski resort Squaw Valley, which saw record-breaking snowfall this season. The resort plans to open four ski lifts on the upper mountain and promises free commemorative July 4 t-shirts to the first 5,000 guests who show up on Monday.
At Crystal Mountain, south of Seattle, spokeswoman Justus Harris said she expected to see "a lot of bikini tops" out on the slopes. The National Weather Service is predicting mostly sunny skies on the mountain on July 4, with a high near 59 degrees. The mountain hasn't been open this late in the year since 1999.
An unseasonably strong low-pressure system has brought above-average rainfall to California's Central Valley and the Sierra earlier this week, and the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a flood warning for much of the region, cautioning that warming temperatures leading into the weekend will accelerate snowmelt and cause rising water levels in rivers and streams.
At lower elevations, the spring thaw has led to surging waterways, turning normally easy crossings perilous and raising flood concerns.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/snow-july-4th-independence-day_n_888217.html
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