'Yosemite has experienced significant snowfall in all areas of the park,' officials said. '...Park crews are working to restore critical services so visitors can safely return. There is no estimated date for reopening.'
While snow isn't uncommon in Yosemite, the park said on Twitter that it's "not too often" the whole park is forced to close because of accumulation. But, they said, it "seems to happen at least once every few years ."
Yosemite spokesperson Scott Gedimen, who has been a ranger at the California park for more than a quarter of a century, toldthat the most recent downfall is "the most snow that I've ever seen at one time." "This is the most any of us have ever seen," he said, adding that on Tuesday, there were 40 inches of snow in the Yosemite Valley, an amount that broke a 54-year-old record for that part of the park for the date. The last record-breaking snowfall in the valley, which is among the national park's lowest elevated spots, was 36 inches on Feb. 28, 1969, Gediman told The Times.And the snow is far from over in Yosemite.
"We're just digging out and doing the best we can to remove the snow and get the park ready for visitors in a safe manner," he said.
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