[pct-l] Current Weather Window

[Ned Tibbits]

Since Mountain Education is all about training people to be safe on the trail, we are watching the weather patterns like everyone else who is getting ready to begin their long hikes earlier in the summer hiking season than usual. 

There probably are many on these two lists who have watched weather patterns over the years, so if I’m amiss with what I say, just add your observations!

During a normal winter, it is not uncommon to have a break in the winter deluge for a few weeks. This commonly occurs in January or February. The deluge returns thereafter in March, then subsides through April. 

Since 2011, every winter we have hoped to see the usual storms roll in and dump on the Sierra with their usual frequency of every week or so, but that didn’t happen the last four years. With “light” winters, we have been lulled into thinking that the dry-trail, summer hiking season could start in June, forgetting that this isn’t normal.

Just remember, all of you who are planning on entering the Sierra before mid-July, if we continue to receive “normal” amounts of snow through March, you will be encountering snow covering the JMT or PCT through the Sierra into July. Unless this weather window of heat and sunshine we are now enjoying extends beyond these next few weeks...

So, as with all trips into the mountains, pay attention not only to snow sensors up in the mountains, hopefully where you are going, but to what the locals have to say about the snow depths up on the trails, themselves. 

Your “take-away” from this post is this:  If the April 1st Sierra Snow Survey shows that the mountains have, indeed, received at least a “normal” winter’s amount of snow and the Sierra Thaw starts about mid-May, you will probably encounter snow in June covering the trail starting at about 10,500. 

Plan accordingly. More on this next...



Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education, Inc.
www.mountaineducation.org 
ned at mountaineducation.org 


Mission:
"To minimize wilderness accidents, injury, and illness in order to maximize wilderness enjoyment, safety, and personal growth, all through experiential education and risk awareness training."