[at-l] Weather craziness

[Frank Looper]

Wow.  And thanks.
On Dec 4, 2010 11:07 PM, "Ryan Crawford" <nayrdrofwarc at gmail.com> wrote:
> Quite often times during the winter months you'll find inversions occuring

> under crystal clear skies. I had my encounter up on Moosilauke quite a few

> years ago. I kept trying to find the decent weather to go hiking in the
> Whites...yet alone during the winter. Everytime I would get almost to the
> top to get nailed by the weather, whether it be clouds or wind.
>
> I finally started thinking it through. It always seemed like I was getting

> nailed by the forecast. The forecast would be in my favor but the reality
> was otherwise. I decided to try a new approach. Instead of trying to find
> two days back to back that would be sunny skies I went for three instead.
> Figuring, it seemed like the Whites were acting like a magnet to the
> outgoing storm front and a magnet to the incoming storm front. The longer
> time delay I saw between the storm fronts, I figured, the better my
chances
> of getting nice weather.
>
> I finally found a nice stretch and called it 24 hours beforehand and
decided
> to head up on the night before the full moon in December '04 or '05. As I
> drove up from central NH I did notice as I got beside Mt. Sunapee that the

> temperature had climb. At least according to the overhead console in my
car
> it had. I didn't think anything about it. I got to the parking lot on the
> south side of the AT. It was 0 F. I decided to try to keep as little on as

> possible it keep from sweating. I started the hike up and it was long
> before I noticed it seemed rather strange. It felt like it was warming up.

> I remind my plan was to hit the top right at sunrise.
>
> I continued climb and finally after a while took a layer off. I got on up
> to the left hand turn where the DOC trail coming up from the DOC cabin
meets
> the AT, right around treeline. I put on some extra clothes and took a
> look...finally, at the thermometer I had taken with me. I about crapped my

> pants. It 26 F and the sun was still below the horizon. I missed the
> sunrise from the top by about 4-5 cairns. I was totally above the trees
> though so I was darn close. I ended up spending an hour up top with 28 F,
> dead calm winds, and 100% clear skies. As I headed back down I noticed it
> was still only around 10 F when I got back to my car.
>
> I drove home and took a quick look first thing on www.mountwashington.org
> and saw it was still showing EXTREMELY light winds and around 30 F. It
> ended up being the warmest spot in New England for the entire day.
>
> A few weeks later I used the same approach to have my first great day up
on
> Lafayette. The inversion wasn't quite as pronounced but I would say it was

> still there.
>
> During the winter months the colder it is overnight the greater you
chances
> for seeing extreme temperature inversions.
>
> I saw one happen here a few weeks ago. The forecast had been for 4 days in

> a row of sunshine. I hadn't thought about it until I woke up in the
morning
> and after looking at the thermometer hanging outside the kitchen window
and
> seeing 26 F and then seeing Lebanon/Hanover was only reporting 23 F it got

> me to thinking. I quickly hopped ontro MW.org and took a look. It was
> showing 41 F and very light winds.
>
> Yeah, you typically want to see a warm front coming through if you want to

> find a nice temperature inversion but if you have a nice pocket of cold
> air...0 - subzero on the ground their are good chances you'll find what I
> indicated above as the results. If you want clear skies, calm winds and
> warmer temps at the summit than the base...look for temperature inversions

> and go hike.
>
> MEANT 2B
> GAME '97
>
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