Mountaintop Weather and Climate

[Scott P]

It took a lot of time to dig up data (two of my biggest hobbies are mountains and weather), but I revised and expanded the Fact Sheet Interesting Weather Statistics for US Mountain Summits:

http://www.summitpost.org/interesting-w ... its/171585

In addition to previous weather data on several US Mountaintops (including Pikes Peak and some wind stats for Longs Peak), added were a Mt Spokane in eastern Washington; Mount Fanny in the Blue Mountains of Oregon; White Mountain Peak in the White Mountains of California; Mount Baldy in the Wasatch Range in Utah; Blowhard Mountain in southwest Utah, not far from Zion National Park; Berthoud and Fremont passes as well as Mount Evans, all in Colorado; Grandfather Mountain and Mount La Conte in the Southern Appalachians; Haleakala on Maui in Hawaii; and Mount Locke in Texas.

I hope that you find it interesting. (At least to me, it is interesting to compare the climate of the 14ers to other mountains in the US).

[spiderman]

Great data, Scott. You might need to relocate from Craig to the top of Rainier during the winter months! A bit of ocean breeze could keep you warmer than your center of absolute chill. It is interesting that the official record low on White Mountain in July is only 23F. I swore that it dipped into the teens when I had done a July ascent almost 30 years ago. Everything in my pack sure froze in a jiffy and I was about to bail straight down towards the desert when the clouds parted and the sun warmed it back into the 60s.

[Scott P]

It is interesting that the official record low on White Mountain in July is only 23F. I swore that it dipped into the teens when I had done a July ascent almost 30 years ago. Everything in my pack sure froze in a jiffy and I was about to bail straight down towards the desert when the clouds parted and the sun warmed it back into the 60s.

It is certainly possible (and probable) that the record will drop below 23F. The data I was able to find only goes back to 2003 (with some years missing), so it hasn't been that long of a period of record yet. Plus in recent years July nights have been extraordinarily mild in that region, as far as low temperatures go.

Since the summit of White Mountain has dropped to 0F in June and 14F in August, it could certainly drop to the teens there in July. The station at White Mountain 2, on the same ridgeline and at 12,470 feet has a longer period of record and has dropped to 12F in July. It is probably only a matter of time when the station at the top of the peak records July temperatures into the teens.