Yosemite
When Does Tioga Pass Open? Historical Dates and How to Predict It
Updated August 11, 2026
Tioga Road (Highway 120 through Yosemite’s high country) closes every winter and reopens once crews can clear it. If your trip depends on reaching Tuolumne Meadows, Saddlebag Lake, or the eastern park entrance, the opening date decides whether the trip happens at all.
The short answer
Average opening date: May 28, based on records going back to 1933. Average closing: November 3.
But the average conceals a wide spread, and planning against the average is how people end up with a cancelled trip.
The actual range
| Scenario | Timing |
|---|---|
| Typical year | Late May to mid-June |
| Early opening (light snow year) | Early May; the earliest recent was May 4, 2015 |
| Late opening (heavy snow year) | July; the latest on record was July 22, 2023 |
July openings are genuinely rare: since 1980 it has happened only three times, in 1998, 2019, and 2023. But 2023 is a useful warning that a big snow year can push it two months past the earliest dates.
What drives the date
Snowpack, essentially. Crews typically begin plowing in mid-April, and how long the work takes depends on how much snow fell and how much avalanche debris sits across the road.
For a rough read on the coming season, watch the April 1 Sierra snowpack measurement. It’s the standard benchmark for the season’s water year and correlates well with how much plowing is ahead. A well-below-average April reading points toward a May opening; a heavy year points to late June or July.
Planning around the uncertainty
If your trip is in July or August, the pass is open in essentially every year on record. Plan freely.
If your trip is in late May or June, treat the opening as genuinely uncertain and have a fallback. Practical approaches:
- Build a plan B in a part of the park that isn’t gated by Tioga. Yosemite Valley and the Wawona area stay accessible year-round.
- If you’re coming from the east side, remember a closed pass means a very long detour, either north via Highway 108 or south via Highway 178. That’s hours, not minutes.
- Hold off on non-refundable bookings in the high country until the Park Service announces plowing progress in spring.
The Park Service posts road status updates through the spring as plowing advances, which is the only forecast worth acting on. Nobody can give you a reliable date in January.
Before you go
Check current road status with the Park Service. Conditions change fast in spring, and an announced opening date can still slip.