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IsayAutumn
Jul 16, 2009, 7:51 PM
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Hello. What do people use to get advance weather forecasts? I am planning several trips for this year, and I would like to look for high-pressure systems around which to plan. Do people use NOAA? If so, can you provide links? There are so many different resources on NOAA's site, it can be hard to pinpoint one specific tool that works well.
If anyone has any regional suggestions, I'm trying to get a good read on weather in the Beartooths (Montana) for early August.
So, what resources do YOU use for predicting the weather on climbing trips? Thanks!
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happiegrrrl
Jul 16, 2009, 7:59 PM
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For anything more than a few days in advance, there's not much you can really do, so far as I know. If there was a secret way to get perfect weather beta, I don't think it would be able to stay a secret!
For trips planned a month or more in advance, it's just smart to get a general idea as to what to expect, and then do the best with what you get, I think. Most areas have a general weather pattern; it doesn't make much sense to do an annual trip to Joshua Tree in July, for example. And people wanting to do a once a year Gunks trip will likely not book their vacation here for mid April, when the weather is so variable.
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aerili
Jul 16, 2009, 8:08 PM
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Registered: Jan 13, 2006
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Yes, noaa.gov rocks.
Websites like mountainproject usually have latitude/longitude info on areas; you can use these coordinates to get an exact forecast.
Mtnprjct has weather links for each area as well, but it's always to wunderground. I have found that for some areas where I live, wunderground is not accurate. It is like it is "too" local when there are varying elevations in the surrounding area and it gets skewed toward higher or lower elevation temps. Noaa has proved to be much more spot-on in these cases.
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hafilax
Jul 16, 2009, 8:09 PM
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Registered: Dec 12, 2007
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Farmer's Almanac?
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jdwynn
Jul 16, 2009, 9:34 PM
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Registered: Jul 31, 2008
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I have found if I always base my climbing trips around weather forecast, accurate or not, I never go climbing, my method is to ignore all none severe storms wake up step out of my tent and enjoy the nice climbing weather everyone missed because they canceled on a 40% chance of rain. Try looking up broadcast for the local weather(news) stations, you can just google the closest large town or the county to find the local news stations. Also weather underground. www.wunderground.com is pretty user friendly and easy to navigate. good luck.
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budman
Jul 16, 2009, 10:13 PM
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
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Instant Weather Forecasting by Alan Watts. Match the pictures with your sky and ck a barometer. Off shore sailors have been using his book for a number of years (say 40). Sometimes you even beat the weather forecasters. Using satellite images is a real help.
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Hennessey
Jul 17, 2009, 2:05 AM
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Registered: Dec 3, 2007
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Nice find
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celticelement
Jul 17, 2009, 4:29 AM
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I use the Weather Underground sometimes.
http://www.wunderground.com/
I like them because I feel like I can see the data myself and see how they made the judgments they are making. I get an idea of what is actually going on.
The web interface isn't the most intuitive but they have some great tools on there if you poke around a bit.
Here is some weather data from last year in Aug at Billings MT: http://www.wunderground.com/.../MonthlyHistory.html
If you go through the years you can kinda get an idea of what local weather is doing during that part of the year. It isn't really a forecast but it can help you tell if you should bring shorts or if you will need some snow pants.
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limeydave
Jul 17, 2009, 1:45 PM
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celticelement wrote: I use the Weather Underground sometimes. http://www.wunderground.com/ I like them because I feel like I can see the data myself and see how they made the judgments they are making. I get an idea of what is actually going on. The web interface isn't the most intuitive but they have some great tools on there if you poke around a bit. Here is some weather data from last year in Aug at Billings MT: http://www.wunderground.com/.../MonthlyHistory.html If you go through the years you can kinda get an idea of what local weather is doing during that part of the year. It isn't really a forecast but it can help you tell if you should bring shorts or if you will need some snow pants.
My Dad works for the weather service in the UK, he uses Wunderground.
I use Roger at Roger's Rocky Top Retreat, WV.
"70 and sunny...til it rains..."
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charley
Jul 17, 2009, 1:49 PM
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Registered: Apr 13, 2002
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I use the window. Look out the window and if the sun is shining go climb. If it is raining do something else. If you don.'t like the weather wait a half hour and it will change.
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tb69hikeclimb
Jul 17, 2009, 3:05 PM
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Registered: Jun 22, 2006
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celticelement wrote: I use the Weather Underground sometimes. http://www.wunderground.com/ I like them because I feel like I can see the data myself and see how they made the judgments they are making. I get an idea of what is actually going on. The web interface isn't the most intuitive but they have some great tools on there if you poke around a bit. Here is some weather data from last year in Aug at Billings MT: http://www.wunderground.com/.../MonthlyHistory.html If you go through the years you can kinda get an idea of what local weather is doing during that part of the year. It isn't really a forecast but it can help you tell if you should bring shorts or if you will need some snow pants.
I also use wunderground....The site has some great tools on the free version. That said it is highly worth paying the 10 bucks(yearly) and becoming a member. Being a member dumps all the advertisements and gives you access to all sorts of other great tools. It also allows access to a bunch of amatuer and private weather stations in an area, which can be super useful for pinpointing locations and not just getting a generic weather forcast.....also has some great tools for star gazing
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xaniel2000
Jul 17, 2009, 9:23 PM
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Registered: Oct 8, 2007
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Click on the "Trip Planner" at Wunderground and you'll find a very useful tool. Since finding it, I use for most if not all my long-range trip planning.
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sspssp
Jul 18, 2009, 11:41 PM
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Registered: Jan 2, 2003
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IsayAutumn wrote: Do people use NOAA? If so, can you provide links? There are so many different resources on NOAA's site, it can be hard to pinpoint one specific tool that works well.
I start at the
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/hnx/
level and you can do a city/state search from there. What I like best about the noaa site is the the link to the "forecast discussion". You have to read these for a while to get used to them and the quality varies. But the discussion can often give a confidence indicator. So if day 4 of the forecast says sunny, do the models have confidence that it will be sunny or is just usually sunny this time of year so we will list that. Or if day 4 say 20% of rain does it mean that a front with scattered showers really is coming through or does it mean we really have no idea so we better give some chance of precips.
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