We visited Yosemite in November 2019, arriving into San Francisco on the 25th. In order to hopefully avoid the crowds we had timed our visit during the Thanksgiving Weekend. We stayed that night at an Airport Hotel, before setting off the following morning on the two hundred and fifty odd mile drive to the park. Watching the Weather Channel on the TV before we left they were talking about heavy snow storms coming in from the north, but we found this difficult believe as the sky was clear and the temperature in the mid forties Fahrenheit.

We arrived at the park entrance just after lunch and the ranger enquired as to whether we were carrying snow chains, as he said they were expecting a heavy snowfall around three in the afternoon. When we replied NO, he strongly suggested we go into Yosemite Village and buy some. I thought maybe one of his relations may have owned the “snow chain shop” and so feeling charitable, went and bought some.

Three thirty came and I remember saying to my wife that my watch must be slow as there was no sign of snow. Twenty minutes later the snow came and there was a covering of a couple of inches, in what seemed like no time. Never having fitted snow chains before and didn’t want to start in the dimming light, we went to our hotel in El Portal. That night it rained “cats and dogs”, but of course, twelve miles or so further up the road, higher in the Sierras that rain was falling as snow.

The following morning when we arrived at the park entrance it was compulsory to fit the chains; miserable experience with numb hands from the snow and having to kneel to get the darn things in place. However, the park was absolutely superb with a fresh layer of snow and hardly any visitors.