UC Merced Yosemite Field Station

Every day we’re shoveling

An atmospheric river, Sierra cement kind of day!

Just another Wawona Wednesday! Settled in for a few days of non-stop snow removal as an atmospheric river dumps several feet of Sierra cement followed by rain

#mondaymomentofzen Our historic office and classroom blanketed in white with more snow on the way. Following the January 19th Mono Wind event, we are relieved these buildings were not damaged. PG&E has installed municipal generators and are working hard to reconnect lines in Wawona. The office has power as of last night. Their goal is to empower the entire town by Tuesday.

Greetings and thank you for your concern! Shortly after midnight on January 19th, my spouse and I woke to the sound of windy conditions outside. Every minute or less a tree could be heard hitting the ground. Boom..boomboom.boomboom! We heard freight train winds on the ridge tops (gusting over 100 mph) as we peeked outside to see if we should move our vehicles. To where? Finally, we sheltered in the basement and tried to sleep a couple hours before dawn. We awoke twice t...o trees falling into the yard. In the morning, we watched a tree fall between our neighbors’ houses, barely missing the two propane tanks. Once conditions were stable, we walked through town to inspect the damage. Thankfully, only three out of nine field station houses were impacted by falling trees. Livingston Cabin sustained an impact to the deck and roof, and the driveway is blocked. Dull Cabin was struck by two trees on each end of the house. Vincent Cabin is buried under a Jenga pile of precariously perched trees that had crushed the deck, intruded into the bedroom, and broken propane lines. We would like to thank the UC Natural Reserve System who funded removal of hazard trees at several cabins which likely minimized additional damage. The rest of town was not so lucky. Thankfully, no one was injured. However, many homes and vehicles were severely damaged. Power lines and transformers are down everywhere. The park service is working to stabilize utilities and clear roads for egress. It may be a week or more before power is restored. In the meantime, we are thankful for health, safety, and community. Marlon and I are working to protect the field station cabins ahead of the expected storm on Friday. Rain and snow may bring more damage to Wawona. Yosemite National Park will remain closed until Friday. Please refer to the park website and sign up for Everbridge alerts for more information about park conditions. Stay healthy! Breezy

Thank you to all who have been reaching out about the status of the field station during the recent Mono wind event that felled trees and power lines and caused significant destruction in Wawona. Staff are safe and field station buildings fortunately appear to have sustained relatively limited damage. We will be assessing this over the next few days and in the meantime point you to the park website for updates on road conditions and closures.