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How To Check For Snow On Trail Featured
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How to Hike

How to Check If There Is Snow On the Trail

Even if you know it's snowed, it's often hard to pinpoint whether snow will be on the specific areas of the trail you're hiking on. In this guide, I'll show you how to check for snow on your hike using powerful tools with free and paid options.

In this Guide:
  • Free Tools To Check For Snow
  • Snow Depth, Snow Forecast, and Slope Angle
  • Easy to Use Paid Tools

Before We Dive In

Blizzard
A hike or trail is often very a very different experience when covered in snow. Many factors are out of your control, including avalanches, slippery surfaces, thin ice, falling tree limbs, and exposure. Navigation is tougher. Your pace is generally slower in the snow. Know what you are getting into before you hit the trail.

Even experienced hikers die hiking in winter conditions. Whether you're looking for snow or avoiding it, hike responsibly and within your limits. Get experience hiking in the snow on easy trails first. Then, prepare for all conditions, understand the risks (such as avalanche zones), and have the right gear. It's not worth risking your life to do a hike.

If you'd like to start hiking in the snow, look for Forest Service roads or flat trails that are not near steep slopes. Sometimes ski resorts offer snowshoe trails. Organizations like REI and the Sierra Club offer winter hiking classes and group hikes. Get some experience under your belt before you start tackling the steeper slopes.

Free Tools to Check For Snow

Watch the video at the top of the page for a "how-to" on these tools.

While this guide focuses on checking for snow, you'll also want to check the forecasts, including temperatures and windchill.

CalTopo Custom SNODAS Snow Layer

Caltopo Add New Layer
On the main Caltopo screen, click "New Layer" and "Custom Source."
Caltopo Snow Settings
Use these settings for the custom layer, then save.
Caltopo Snow Layer
The new layer (whatever you named it) will show up on the right.
Caltopo Snow Layer. Onjpg
Turning it on will give you the overlay of snow. Notice that it's not as smooth as GaiaGPS and you can't tweak the opacity. But you can see the snow.

You can create a free CalTopo account and save the SNODAS layer so you always have it handy.

snowEvaluator

Snowevaluator Screenshoot
snowEvaluator is a free tool based on Google Maps and Sentinel satellite imagery.

snowEvaluator is a free option built on the Earth Engine Apps platform. It uses weekly Sentinel imagery and then turns the snow cover into a false red, so it's easier to distinguish snow from clouds. It also takes satellite imagery with the least amount of clouds, which should help improve accuracy.

Local Reports and Imagery

Snow Reports On Reddit
Recent trail reports are great for discovering what the trails look like. So here I'm checking out pictures, and trip reports on a Southern California hiking group on Reddit.

Looking at a map with snow data is helpful, but it doesn't give you the condition of the trail and snow. That's why I try to find as many local sources of information as possible, and if I don't find them, I ask the community. Each area has its spots where it congregates online to share, so you'll probably have to do some searching to find them. Using the region plus "hike trip report" or "trail report" in Google should get you most of the way there. Some places to search are:

Even if the trail looks doable, the roads might be closed. Remember to check local sources for any road closures.

Gaia GPS SNODAS Snow Layer

Gaia GPS is a navigation tool and application with web, iPhone, and Android versions. It's a powerful navigation system that also lets you check for snow cover when you have a premium membership. The SNODAS snow layer can be added to your map. Just put it on top of the other map layers and tweak the opacity to see if there is snow on the trail.

Gaiagps Snow Layers
If you look in the upper left-hand corner at my map layers, you can see that I've added: "Snow Depth," which comes from NOAA SNODAS data. The snow data layer overlays the trail map, and I've adjusted the opacity to see both maps.
Gaiagps Snow Layer Detail
Here I've zoomed in and you can see the overlay on top of the trail detail. The key on the left tells you how much snow is on the ground.
Screen Shot 2019 12 02 At 11.42.19
Here's Santiago Peak (shown in the video) after a few days of snowmelt. I just hiked this yesterday and can confirm that the snow coverage map is very accurate here. The summit had about 3 inches of snow, as indicated by the green snow coverage here.

CalTopo SnoTel Stations

The US Department of Agriculture operates over 800 remote snow measurement systems in watersheds around the United States called SnoTel. You can view each station's readings on CalTopo with the built-in SnoTel Data later. Just click the layer on, then click on one of the stations on the map for snowfall over the last 1-7 days.

Caltopo Snotel
The bottom graph shows the snow depth of the recent snowfall.

CalTopo Recent Satellite Photography

Checking a recent satellite photo of the area where you want to hike is another great way to do snow reconnaissance. Luckily CalTopo integrates high-resolution Sentinel Satellite imagery, updated every week. I generally overlay the satellite image on top of a trail map. If there is cloud cover, the imagery is not so useful, but there is an archive of past weeks that you can search through too.

Caltopo Add Sat Image
You can overlay the recent satellite photo on top of the hiking trail map and then tweak the opacity.
Caltopo=snow On Trail
Here's satellite photography showing snow on top of the trails.
Caltopo Snow Detail
You can zoom in on the trail and see specific covered or not covered areas.

Putting It All Together

Here's the workflow I use to determine if there is snow on the trail and what to do.

  1. Get as much data as possible (using the former methods) to determine if snow is on my hike and where.
  2. If there is snow on the route, check the avalanche risk.
  3. Check the upcoming weather and make sure there is no more snow coming.
  4. Decide "go or no go" for the hike. If I can walk 0n the trail with micro-spikes and there are no apparent dangers, I'll go. Otherwise, it will be more of a mountaineering exercise, not a hike.
  5. If I go hiking and the conditions differ from what I expected, I'm not afraid to turn around and call it a day. I never put myself in a situation where I have to do something dangerous.

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This Guide Was Written by Cris Hazzard

Cris Hazzard 4 Mile Trail Yosemite
Hi, I'm Cris Hazzard, aka Hiking Guy, a professional outdoors guide, hiking expert, and author based in Southern California. I created this website to share all the great hikes I do with everyone else out there. This site is different because it gives detailed directions that even the beginning hiker can follow. I also share what hiking gear works and doesn't so you don't waste money. I don't do sponsored or promoted content; I share only the gear recommendations, hikes, and tips that I would with my family and friends. If you like the website and YouTube channel, please support these free guides (I couldn't do it without folks like you!). You can stay up to date with my new guides by following me on YouTube, Instagram, or by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.