Wind forecast, when do you pause

[cottonmountaineering]

on a non technical route in summer, less than 50mph gusts is about the line for me. start needing to wear goggles around that wind speed

[Corndiggs]

I've been curious about actual wind speeds lately too and looked around at handheld anemometers. There's another topic from a few years ago where some folks mention using models that look to be 100's of dollars (not worth the curiousty for me) but I also see cheapy $20 varieties from Home Depot. Anyone ever tried these? Wondering if they're total junk or perhaps fairly accurate, and small/light enuf to be a fun little addition to the pack???

EDIT - I just found an iphone only app simply named "Anemometer for phone" for $.99. Anyone used it in the mountains? Ratings aren't that great but I'm gonna splurge...

[cottonmountaineering]

I've been curious about actual wind speeds lately too and looked around at handheld anemometers. There's another topic from a few years ago where some folks mention using models that look to be 100's of dollars (not worth the curiousty for me) but I also see cheapy $20 varieties from Home Depot. Anyone ever tried these? Wondering if they're total junk or perhaps fairly accurate, and small/light enuf to be a fun little addition to the pack???

i have one of the handheld ones from an old job where it was necessary to measure wind speed, its somewhat pointless to keep in the pack because you can just look at the weather forecast for temp/wind speed

[mtree]

Wind speed is one of the trickiest to measure and is commonly over estimated. I know from standing in winds measured at sustained 70mph ON SITE that amount is almost impossible for me to navigate forward. I would have to crawl to safely advance. I suspect I've been in 70mph wind gusts on ridges at times since it knocked me down. I retreated.

When I hear of wind forecasts I have to pause and think about where I'm going and what to expect. As many mentioned, enduring sustained winds sucks and wears you out. I don't enjoy anything over 30mph-ish. Do I have a set number? Not really. Probably because I've been in wind "forecasted" with over 70mph gusts and managed fine so the forecast is usually suspect. If I'm miserable, I turn around. If I ever see folks being blown off a ridge I'll DEFINITELY turn around!

[Scott P]

70 mph is pretty much my absolute cuttoff now, at least for summer, but that depends on the day and I might go somewhere else if it will be really windy.

70mph could pick you up off the ground or at best blow you over and in my opinion is not safe. That is just shy of hurricane force. Think about how many times peaks require you to walk across talus.

In my opinion, it's about enjoyment. Could you hike in 40-50mph, yes you can and I have. Was it fun? Hell no.

True. 70mph was an absolute cutoff because that's the point where you start getting blown off (perhaps the only advantage to being 275 lbs. is in wind). I might tolerate it for a short distance if I was close to a summit. Even at my "portly size" I was picked off the ground, blown off the ridge, and injured during high winds. Now days I wouldn't go at all if 70 mph was in the forecast. I might not even go if the forecast was for over 45 mph. Exposure and terrain have a lot to do with the choice too. On technical terrain even 20 mph is bad.

Strangley, this year the wind forecast has been exaggerated on the last two alpine peaks I did (5/31 and 6/7). In the past it was the opposite most of the time. On both alpine peaks I did lately, the forecast said 50 mph wind gusts. It was a little breezy but not even close to 50 mph.

[rmcpherson]

To add to what @j12miskin said, there is evidence for cognitive decline due to sustained high wind conditions.

as the literature shows, athletes that are mentally fatigued make more mistakes because of external and internal elements. In conclusion, on days with a higher wind intensity, sailors experience greater general fatigue, which leads to a poorer performance and a lower cognitive function

Source: https://efsupit.ro/images/stories/iunie ... %20186.pdf

[nyker]

On some popular mountains like Mount Washington and Mount Fuji, there are weather websites where you can find wind speeds in some cases for each minute over the whole day. (This is interesting not just ahead of a climb, but also afterwards if you happened to have climbed it and wanted to see what the wind speed was when you were on it). Some peaks have instrumentation on the summit (Mt Washington and Whiteface).

[Scott P]

On some popular mountains like Mount Washington and Mount Fuji, there are weather websites where you can find wind speeds in some cases for each minute over the whole day. (This is interesting not just ahead of a climb, but also afterwards if you happened to have climbed it and wanted to see what the wind speed was when you were on it). Some peaks have instrumentation on the summit (Mt Washington and Whiteface).

Colorado has several of those too:

Niwot Ridge:

https://ambientweather.net/dashboard/f0 ... 29d5/tiles

Pikes Peak summit:

https://nwt.lternet.edu/real-time-met

Colorado Mines Peak:

https://stations.avalanche.state.co.us/ ... 9+12490+ft

Mount Baldy at Snowmass:

https://stations.avalanche.state.co.us/ ... 9+12704+ft

Cinnamon Mountain (Elks):

https://stations.avalanche.state.co.us/ ... 9+12301+ft

Kendall Mountain (San Juans):

https://stations.avalanche.state.co.us/ ... 9+13065+ft

[nyker]

Cool, thanks Scott. I'll check those out.

[CheapCigarMan]

I've been curious about actual wind speeds lately too and looked around at handheld anemometers. There's another topic from a few years ago where some folks mention using models that look to be 100's of dollars (not worth the curiousty for me) but I also see cheapy $20 varieties from Home Depot. Anyone ever tried these? Wondering if they're total junk or perhaps fairly accurate, and small/light enuf to be a fun little addition to the pack???

EDIT - I just found an iphone only app simply named "Anemometer for phone" for $.99. Anyone used it in the mountains? Ratings aren't that great but I'm gonna splurge...

I love my Kestrel 2500 but if I were to buy again I’d get the Kestrel 2000 instead.

https://kestrelmeters.com/collections/a ... rel-meters

[ltlFish99]

THREE TIMES WIND HAS STOPPED A SUMMIT STTEMPT.
ONCE ON THE WAY TO ARGENTINE PEAK, WHEN OUR GROUP SAW A FLIGHT FOR LIFE HELICOPTER TURNTURNING AROUND IN WINDS THTHAT WE ESTIMATED WERE AROUND 100 MPH, AND HAD BLOWN SOME OF US TO THE GROUND, WHEN WE THEN TURNED AROUND.

I GOT TO THE SADDLE BELOW SHAVANO IN LATE OCTOBER, AND ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL SAID HIS WIND MEASURING INSTRUMENT WAS SHOWING 70 MPH, I TURNED BACK AT THAT POINT, ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHERS.

THE THIRD TIME, WAS A LATE MARCH ATTEMPT ON THE CABLES ROUTE ON LONGS PEAK.
AFTER A VERY WINDY AND SNOWY NIGHT AT A BOULDER FIELD CAMP, WE EOKE UP TO APPROXIMATELY 60 TO 70 MPH WINDS WITH HEAVY SNOW, AND VERY LOW VISIBILITY.

THESE CONDITIONS MADE IT EASY TO NOT ATTEMPT THE CABLES ROUTE, ABD TO BREAK CAMP AND GO BACK DOWN.