[pct-l] No.Cal. Weather

[Georgi Heitman]

To all and sundry, as requested by Tom Bache
As mentioned a day or three ago, some snow fell over the 6000' summit (Eskimo Hill) on Highways 44/89 near the northern entrance to Lassen National Park.  That brought a letter of concern regarding hiking in Section N in general.  First, I've checked road conditions on Hyway 89, which goes through LVNP and reaches a high point some 300' higher than the trail's summit in the park.  The highway is open from Mt Shasta City (junction with I-5) to South of Lake Tahoe.  This highway reaches some elevations that are as high or higher than Twin Bridges/ the Tahoe rim, etc. so tho snow has occurred and is on the agenda for tonight, tomorrow and Saturday night, it may have little effect on the trail.  Freezing levels are to begin at around 11,000' and will drop to 7,500' within the next 24 hours or so.  This should be followed by a warming trend of a few days in duration.
The forecast here in Old Station (4550') is for a 20% chance of rain tonight, 60% chance tomorrow (Saturday) and a 30% chance Sat. night.  >From Sunday thru Thursday, it will be slightly to mostly cloudy with sunshine, temps ranging from the low 70's during the days to 40 degrees at night.  
That's as far as my www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast predicts in advance. 
BUT, KNOW THIS....Make no assumptions about fall weather in this area.  I've seen a year when Fall lasted exactly one day, and it was followed by snow and that was followed more snow.  And one year when it rained almost daily til the 1st of July.  And all indicators point to an early winter, check the Weather Channel's long range forecast, it's weird, with storms coming into CA from the so.east and following right up the Sierra,  we've had more rain earlier this summer and fall than we have in several years plus our squirrels have been dropping green pine cones earlier than usual, deer hunters are coming up empty or nearly so, as in the deer are already heading to lower ground and bears have been hitting garbage dumps and cans way early this year because the berries weren't available yet and they've felt the need to fatten up.  Were I you, I'd keep a close eye on forecasts and plan that late season hike as early late season as possible.  Also understand that up here we tend to predict the local weather by looking out the window and even that's not all that accurate at times.  And that Easter Sunday, 2006, which was 10 days before Kick-Off that year, we went to bed to clear skies after hiding Easter eggs for a friends grandkids and waking up to 3 1/2 feet of snow and counting!  Totally unpredicted....and that storm from nowhere created total havoc all the way south thru the Sierra, just ask a member of the Class of 2006.  By the same token, both Scott W. and Crash Test Dummy arrived in Old Station in early to mid October last fall, heading south and both made it all the way to the southern terminus, thanks to a late fall and winter, but who knows?
O.k., I'm through, but I hope I'm getting my point across...don't wait too long!!!   I just hate having to explain to some hikers loved ones that if they're overdue and haven't checked in yet, we'll notify the Park Rangers and local search and rescue teams, but the chances are it'll be Spring before we know for sure what happened...........  Ruins my whole day..................
Georgi