Reading the live feed from Caltrans...
Reading the live feed from Caltrans...
The Owens Valley's main town, at the foot of the Sherwin Grade and the corridor's south end.
Bishop and the Sherwin Grade is open. No chain controls are in effect on this stretch right now.
Bishop right now: Mostly Sunny, 66°F, wind 2 to 13 mph SSE.
Mostly sunny. High near 66, with temperatures falling to around 59 in the afternoon. South southeast wind 2 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
Tonight
32°F
Mostly Cloudy
Wind 8 to 12 mph SW
Monday
62°F
Partly Sunny then Chance Rain Showers
Wind 3 to 14 mph SSE
Monday Night
26°F
Rain Showers Likely then Rain And Snow Showers Likely
Wind 9 to 13 mph WSW
Tuesday
53°F
Slight Chance Snow Showers then Sunny
Wind 2 to 9 mph NNW
Tuesday Night
24°F
Partly Cloudy
Wind 6 to 13 mph WSW
Wednesday
57°F
Rain Showers
Wind 12 to 28 mph SSE
Wednesday Night
26°F
Rain And Snow Showers
Wind 13 to 23 mph SSE
Thursday
49°F
Rain And Snow Showers
Wind 9 to 13 mph SSE
Forecast: National Weather Service.
Bishop is the largest town on this corridor and its southern anchor, a full service community at 4,150 feet in the Owens Valley where US-395 meets SR-168 toward the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest and SR-6 north. It is the supply stop for the whole southern Eastern Sierra: climbers bound for the Buttermilks, anglers on the Owens River, and every driver fueling for the run north or the long desert drive south toward Lone Pine and beyond.
Bishop's weather is high desert weather, hot in summer, mild and sunny through much of winter, and famously different from the summits an hour north. That difference is the trap this site exists to disarm: a calm Bishop morning says nothing about Deadman Summit. Bishop is also a wind town; the Owens Valley funnels spring winds hard enough for Caltrans to post advisories and prohibitions for high profile vehicles, and those postings show on this site's wind page the moment they go up.
Heading north out of Bishop, the road climbs 2,700 feet in the first half hour and the weather climbs with it. Check the corridor status above, not just this forecast, before you start up the Sherwin Grade.