Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board dmatt / A change is coming...

Hi We had a large group in today. Doug and I brought them into the kitchen and gave them the run down on what we watch so I thought I would share the hints .

First we NEVER READ the forcast
Second we get the NOAA site up for the area and scroll down to the bottom section of the page and open up the latest sat. view then when the page opens we click western states and pick 16 KM this gets us out to the central pacific ocean, this gives us a look at the storm "mass" and water vapor coverage . You can turn on some of the tables and they will create a model you can watch the course of the storm.


We then go outside and watch the sky , looking for color of the clouds and the speed if they are moving , this tells us how cold the storm may be and if high winds are moving the storm in or out.

We also watch the feel and smell of the air for a change in moisture . If you can record the temperature watch for the drops and if during the day it drops and goes back up the storm may be here, about 39 degrees the rain starts to turn into sleet and lower it will turn to snow, if at night and it is raining and gets very very quiet the storm has turned to snow and will stick , sometimes very deep , the smell gives us a clue of the amout of the water in the storm.

Always watch the sky and when you get on the ridges look all directions , storms just don't happen they take hours/days to get here.

You like the the rest of the story puts the pressure on you to be ready , not a forcast that guides your choices of gear and change of plans . When in the storm again YOU need to take the action to then get the folks back into a safe zone or out.

Thanks Doug

And another hint that just flashed in my head most times in the backcountry you will not have the folks telling you the next few hours or days of weather so if you wait for the answer it might be late or not at all. Thanks Doug

Thank you Doug. Clouds and temp of where your are located are BIG indicators of what is coming.

Just by those 2 items saved my butt in '08.

Thanks very much Doug.

Carrying an AM/FM broadcast radio or even one that's capable of receiving the NOAA weather broadcast will help in the backcountry.

Here's a coverage map of the NOAA weather broadcasts in CA. The key to receiving the broadcast is to be at a high location (when in the backcountry) such as Trail Crest.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/Maps/PHP/california.php


hiiker

So, it looks like the first major Arctic storm of the season will reach California early Monday, and it will be raining/snowing cats and dogs in the Mount Whitney area all Wednesday and up until Thursday morning.

After this kind of outpouring, is there any chance that MR will be safely passable without ice tools next Monday?

Watched the video in the thread about MR conditions, that pretty much answers my questions. No MR for me this year.

DMATT we have a large group hike planned for next weekend please keep us updated. Right now looks like next Fri thru Sun will be good weather. Just might be hiking on new fresh snow. NOAA has about a foot falling so should be interesting...

The NOAA site I normally check does not show snow amounts that far ahead, but I see 1.2 inches of rain in Yosemite Valley through 5 PM on Wednesday. So, just under a foot of snow sounds about right.

Wow, DMATT usually nails it with the weather. I think we're in for a good coating of snow in the Sierra very soon. It will make for some nice scenery but hard traveling. For all the picture takers out there the photo ops should be great.

I wonder if Mammoth might start gearing up for an early opener.

Jeff:

yes right now the weekend looks pretty good. Flat ridging will create dry weather mildly warming temperatures.

dmatt