[pct-l] Weather talk

[Ken Murray]

Each year, when the issue of what the weather is doing, I'm always astonished by the responding posts.

It is hard to imagine what changable feature exists that will dramatically effect a person's hike other than the snowpack....I guess the weather DURING the hike?

>From the stanpoint of the two variables that would still be in question: what do I take, and when do I start? The snowpack is undoubtedly the big kahuna.

A winter weather system does not consist of a simple process of a series of storms, but a regional climate zone that takes on a characteristic, depending upon the year.  For example, a "El Nino" year is that, it does not morph into a "La Nina" spontaneously.....the effects are set up over a lengthy period of time.

Does this mean that one knows what is going to happen in a particular spot at a particular time?  Of course not.  I've been caught in mountain downpours, when a mile away, a buddy was totally dry.  YMMV!

But the consequences of a differing snowpack are so great for most people, that it seems to me that thinking about the possibilities, and considering the consequences of those, is a high priority.

For example, as someone mentioned about a low snow year, bugs might be awful.  So a person might want to consider what mitigation to undertake...headnets, other body covering, really understanding the new chemicals and how they dramatically change the situation.  I have been astonished by the number of hikers at Lake Morena, who have not given such things serious thought until then.  Way......too......late, in my opinion.  A hiker has a lot more topical things to worry about at that point, to be concentrating on things they could have worked though months earlier.

It just seems to me a sort of bizarre dis-ordering of priorities, when the snowpack is ignored, and *endless* conversations go on about which GPS to take.  Ask Greg, Carl, or Eric which one they used.

I suppose we're all caught up in cabin fever.  :)

Ken