[pct-l] Importance of Rain Gear

[Barry Teschlog]

Today is one of those days here in the Pacific Northwest that is a reminder of why reliable rain gear and an effective means to keep ones gear dry is needed anywhere and anytime on a PCT thru hike.

In a news story I read yesterday talking about the rain event we're having, the daily record for rain in Seattle for today is ~0.56", while the second highest total on the day is only 0.06".  It's rained only 13 times on this date in Seattle since records began.  Historically, this is one of the driest times of year in Washington.  A person might be tempted to skip the rain gear to save weight (hmmm...heard this one before in the context of So Cal at the start of a thru hike?)


The forecast today is for 0.5" to 1.5" of rain, in the lowlands.....it started last night and is predicted to last all day, into tonight and to only drop to spotty tomorrow, again, here in the lowlands.  Up on the trail, the forecast is for mostly rainy through tomorrow.  On the radar, it's lots of green and yellow down here in the lowlands, but mostly yellow, orange and red up over the PCT, indicating heavy rain up there currently.  Overnight lows at Snoqualmie are predicted to be the upper 40's tonight, hardly super cold, but if a person had inadequate shelter and rain gear, such that they and their sleeping bag / insulating layers get wet, there's a possibility of hypothermia, even at this relatively mild temperature.  Thursday night is predicted to be about the same temps.

The biggest blessing of this rain is that it'll certainly help the firefighting efforts east of the mountains...although as heavy as it is, it'll also certainly cause mudslides in the freshly burned areas, and hopefully won't kick off local dry lightning.