# Sagehen Creek Field Station

Sagehen Creek Field Station is a research and teaching facility of the University of California at Berkeley's Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, the Berkeley Natural History Museums & the University of California Natural Reserve System. Sagehen is also a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations.
The Station was established in 1951 with the signing of a long-term special use permit with the USDA Forest Service; today, this relationship includes the Tahoe National Forest which manages the land, & the Pacific Southwest Research Station, which created the Sagehen Experimental Forest on 28 Nov. 2005.
Sagehen serves as the hub of a much broader network of research areas known as the Central Sierra Field Research Stations. CSFRS consists of:
* Sagehen Creek Field Station
* Central Sierra Snow Laboratory
* Onion Creek Experimental Watershed
* Chickering American Reserve
* North Fork Association Lands
The Station is not generally open to the public. However, Sagehen hosts periodic public events.
Sagehen also maintains a public news blog and video log.

## Climate

Sagehen Creek has a continental Mediterranean climate (Köppen Dsb) with subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) characteristics.
Climate data for Sagehen Creek, California, 1991–2020 normals, 1966-2020 extremes: 6337ft (1932m) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 62 (17) | 64 (18) | 72 (22) | 78 (26) | 84 (29) | 90 (32) | 96 (36) | 95 (35) | 90 (32) | 85 (29) | 70 (21) | 62 (17) | 96 (36) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 54.6 (12.6) | 54.7 (12.6) | 63.3 (17.4) | 68.1 (20.1) | 76.8 (24.9) | 83.2 (28.4) | 88.7 (31.5) | 87.1 (30.6) | 82.9 (28.3) | 74.9 (23.8) | 63.1 (17.3) | 53.1 (11.7) | 89.1 (31.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 40.1 (4.5) | 40.5 (4.7) | 48.3 (9.1) | 52.9 (11.6) | 62.0 (16.7) | 71.8 (22.1) | 79.8 (26.6) | 79.2 (26.2) | 72.6 (22.6) | 61.4 (16.3) | 49.4 (9.7) | 38.8 (3.8) | 58.1 (14.5) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 27.7 (−2.4) | 27.7 (−2.4) | 33.4 (0.8) | 37.5 (3.1) | 45.1 (7.3) | 52.2 (11.2) | 58.4 (14.7) | 57.3 (14.1) | 51.6 (10.9) | 42.9 (6.1) | 34.8 (1.6) | 26.5 (−3.1) | 41.3 (5.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 15.4 (−9.2) | 14.9 (−9.5) | 18.5 (−7.5) | 22.1 (−5.5) | 28.2 (−2.1) | 32.5 (0.3) | 37.0 (2.8) | 35.3 (1.8) | 30.6 (−0.8) | 24.5 (−4.2) | 20.1 (−6.6) | 14.3 (−9.8) | 24.5 (−4.2) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −4.4 (−20.2) | −0.8 (−18.2) | 1.3 (−17.1) | 10.9 (−11.7) | 20.8 (−6.2) | 24.1 (−4.4) | 28.1 (−2.2) | 27.1 (−2.7) | 23.5 (−4.7) | 15.6 (−9.1) | 3.9 (−15.6) | −4.5 (−20.3) | −9.9 (−23.3) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −21 (−29) | −33 (−36) | −9 (−23) | −3 (−19) | 10 (−12) | 18 (−8) | 24 (−4) | 25 (−4) | 16 (−9) | 7 (−14) | −10 (−23) | −28 (−33) | −33 (−36) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 5.02 (128) | 5.16 (131) | 4.43 (113) | 2.10 (53) | 1.56 (40) | 0.48 (12) | 0.29 (7.4) | 0.44 (11) | 0.60 (15) | 1.81 (46) | 3.02 (77) | 5.63 (143) | 30.54 (776.4) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 40.9 (104) | 45.0 (114) | 36.9 (94) | 7.1 (18) | 1.9 (4.8) | 0.4 (1.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.5 (1.3) | 2.5 (6.4) | 21.8 (55) | 32.8 (83) | 189.8 (481.5) |
| Source 1: NOAA (Independence Creek precipitation) ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: XMACIS2 (1981-1998 snowfall, records & monthly max/mins) ||||||||||||||