Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Summit weather during heat wave

Heading up the main trail June 7. I’m reading that there could be a heat wave starting around June 1.

My question is when it’s hot below can it be warm above? It may seem like a simple question however it’s been my experience that during santa ana wind events in Southern California. It might be warm below, but it can also be very cold on top.

Thanks

depends on the mass of the system and where it came from gulf or northern system record high for the summit was 57 degrees years ago but we have increased at the portal about 5 degrees over the years we have hit 83 for our high using the 4 degree drop that would say at the summit 59

Thanks Doug, I read here about the heat wave:

https://www.southerncaliforniaweath...GUmYbRD8C0i5w_aem_JKh_-ZgKTEdKBmCFzf8aFw

June 2013 we popped up from the East Buttress to find it completely baking on the summit, easily low 80s. Had to sit in the shade. Fortunately monsoons were starting so the early afternoon cells crept in which cooled things down---but then the lightning started. Plusses, minuses, you get what you get...

The iced coffee from the summit Starbucks must have tasted especially good that day.

Unfortunately, that was the summer Starbucks was closing shops because of market oversaturation and it became a Wawa (before reverting back to a Starbucks once the Mt. Muir location shut down permanently in 2015).