[pct-l] Cold weather for Washington and Oregon Cascades, snow level close to 4000 ft.

[Steel-Eye]

Good morning, Games,

I'm glad you had an interesting and successful trip.  The weather for much
of this year's hiking season has been a bit out-of-profile, but I've visited
many places around the world in my career and wherever I go someone seems to
say, "Gee, this certainly is unusual weather for - here - this time of
year."

In '99 I had an experience very similar to yours during a snowstorm in the
Mt. Jefferson Wilderness on 31 August.  The accumulation was only 2"-3", but
it was blowing sideways with near-zero visibility.  I remember one
interesting side-hill stretch of sun-cupped snowpack near Cathedral Rocks.
The fluffy new snow filled the sun cups making every step very
unpredictable.  That, along with the poor visibility and side-blowing snow,
almost destroyed any useful visual reference for balance in walking.  It was
a real hoot.  As you point out, these instances are a good reminder that
snowstorms can - and probably have - occurred on every day of the calendar
in mountains.

The good news that year was that the weather soon improved and the hiking
season was clear and beautiful well out into October.

Steel-Eye

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Lee (GAMES)" <elee at microsoft.com>
To: <mattjolley at comcast.net>; <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 10:41 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Cold weather for Washington and Oregon Cascades, snow
level close to 4000 ft.


> Matt wrote:
>>
> Point forecasts are showing lows of 25 degrees,  highs of 41 at  7000 ft
> in Oregon.
>>
>
> Just came off a six day, 140 mile hike of Oregon Sections D and E (Highway
> 138 near Diamond Lake to Highway 242 at McKenzie Pass).  Yup, it was
> definitely cold up there.  I was in the Sisters Wilderness yesterday and
> it basically never got much above the freezing point the whole day.  There
> were strong winds, intermittent showers of ice crystals, plus a fair
> amount of sun, for the first half of the day, and then about 4 PM it
> started snowing for real.  I was eating dinner at the time and watched the
> ground go from brown to white and it didn't look to be stopping anytime
> soon.  I was planning to hike out that night anyway but the snow
> definitely gave me a little extra push in that direction.  I got the hell
> out of Dodge and arrived at McKenzie Pass about 10 PM where it was warmer
> and much less windy.
>
> I don't know what the total accumulation was up there; probably a few
> inches, which isn't a big deal if you're prepared for that kind of thing
> but a very rude shock if you're not.  It was a great reminder that even
> ultralight hikers need to be prepared for reasonably foreseeable
> conditions at all times . . . and snow in the mountains is reasonably
> foreseeable any time of year.  Be safe out there!
>
> Eric
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