The Day The Temperature Rose 103 Degrees

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Road crews are working through feet of snowpack in some of the West's national parks after one of the snowiest winters on record.

Plowing on the south side of Lassen Volcanic National Park, about 45 miles east of Redding, California, in the northern Sierra, began Wednesday.

Video posted to the park's Facebook page showed gigantic snowbanks on each side of the road.

(MORE: Winter Storm Central)

Snow removal on the park's main highway kicked off April 4, and it can take up to two months to completely open the 30-mile road, according to the park's road clearing status page.

The task is particularly daunting because of sharp, avalanche-prone slopes that can hold up to 40 feet of snow, in addition to downed trees and rockfalls.

Just two years ago, in the heart of California's recent multi-year drought, a pathetic Sierra snowpack allowed this same park road to be cleared and fully opened on May 3, 2015.

Crews are also carving their way through 6 to 10 feet of wet, heavy snowpack on Yosemite National Park's Tioga Road, making about one-half mile progress each day.

In Washington, the clearing of state route 20 through North Cascades National Park is underway, with snowbanks up to 25 feet high reported.

According to the Washington Department of Transportation, an avalanche spotter is with the plowing crew to alert them to a slide. There is growing concern for heightened avalanche danger given warmer temperatures and increased snowmelt leading to a destabilization of the snowpack.

No less impressive was the view of Crater Lake National Park's Steel Visitor Center, open for business but surrounded by a giant snowpack on May 4.

Heading toward the summer dry season, snowpack remains among the highest on record for early May.

The Independence Lake SNOTEL station, just northwest of Truckee, California (elevation: 8,338 feet), estimated a snow depth of 176 inches, more than 10 feet above their average for May 4.

Just north of the Yosemite National Park's northern boundary, the Leavitt Lake SNOTEL station (elevation: 9,604 feet) estimated a snowpack of over 20 feet (247 inches), also more 10 feet above what's typical for early May.

The SNOTEL network estimated water content of the snowpack in the Sierra is almost three times the early May average and is well above average in the Cascades and much of the northern Rockies and Wasatch.

Keep this in mind if you plan a May or early June trip to some of these national parks. Some popular roads through higher mountain passes may open later than past seasons.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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