grouseking
Well-known member
Over the past several years, I have gone on many hikes, and have grown accustomed to rapidly changing conditions, normally for the worst. My first bad weather experience was on Moosilauke back in 1999 in October. It was supposed to be a sunny day everywhere....well it was about 35 at the summit, extremely windy and there were freak squalls of sleet. From then on, I knew to never trust the weather forecast up high. But something very interesting occurred in the Whites on Saturday, and probably across New England. A killer inversion set up especially between 3000- 4500ft. An inversion isn't that abnormal, especially during the spring and fall, but this one was quite strange because it held its own and lasted all day even though we bhad complete sunshine everywhere. So that helped to boost temperatures around 4,000 ft to at least 60 degrees during the early afternoon. Lucky me, I decided to hike Waumbek that day!
I left unsure of the forecast because some were saying rain early and some were saying no rain at all. I checked the auto temperature profile on the Mount Washington website and was shocked to see that it was 31 at Pinkham (1600 ft) and 54 at 4000 feet! I thought that couldn't last but it did. We arrived at the Starr King TR at around 10am with the temp at 42 degrees. It was 37 in Lancaster at 800 ft and 42 at the trailhead at 1500 feet, so the temps were already rising. I still figured the inversion would break down so I brought all my light winter gear, except for crampons. But to my shock, I could feel the temperature getting warmer as I climbed. The wind was actually a warm breeze, which felt alien for this time of year. I was beginning to realize that our southeast wind was probably responsible for warming up the different levels of the atmosphere. So off we climbed...it wasn't a bad climb, but in fall open hardwoods can be kind of ugly. By the time we reached the conifers around 2900 feet, we could tell the temps were near 50 degrees. It felt very strange to Brian and I.
We kept climbing at a slow but fairly steady pace, had the crap scared out of us by two spruce grouse and hit the summit of Starr King around noon. Temps were definitely in the 50s here and if it wern't for the occasional gusts of wind it would have felt like summer. In between Waumbek and Starr King, my attention turned from the weather to the beauty of the forest. It was a wide ridge with huge fir trees draped in Caribou Moss, rock moss, and moose tracks. Some snow was around, and we were told be a pair of hikers that the leftover snow/ive wasn't slippery. Well after nearly faceplanting two or three times both Brian and I started to call the stuff nonslippery ice. (A little sarcastic indeed).
Arriving at Waumbek we took a nice break, and I snapped quite a few pics of the woods and some surprising views just below the summit itself on the Kilkenny Ridge trail. When we found out the temp at the summit was 60 degrees we were blown away. Thats warm for southern New England this time of year, let alone at 4000 feet in the northern White Mtns! We wondered if there was still an inversion (we're both weather geeks) and couldnt wait to check the car thermometer for the ride home (see, geeks).
After tagging my 28th and soaking it all in, we started back. The trail turned into a mud hole so we didn't have to worry about the "non slippery ice", we had to worry about the "non slippery" roots and mud! In no time we were back at Starr King, where we sunned ourselves for about 20 min (yes, sunned ourselves in Nov.). We only stopped because the sun went behind the trees and it was getting a little late. So off we went, strolling down the trail, leaving the patches of snow behind, and believe it or not, feeling the temperatures drop little by little. The temp was at it lowest point around 2900 feet...about 54 degrees. Then we felt it slowly warm up as we descended fto the car (finally something normal)! When we arrived around 4pm, the car thermometer read 60 degrees! Boy I hope everyone got out on Saturday because it was a nice day, and I had a spectacular hike.
The drive back was interesting as well. The temp in Lancaster at 800 feet was 52 degrees, which meant that the inversion was still in place and somehow lasted the day. And it appeared that we walked thru one of them, and drove to another! Finally the last interesting thing that happened was when we were in VT, we saw smoke rising from a chimney. Normally the smoke rises as high as it can go, and then in there is an iversion it flattens out and doesnt rise anymore, similiar to this. Well this was the case as the smoke rose not 10-20 feet out of the chimney and flattened out. It was one of the neatest sights I have ever seen, as it was a weird temperature profile all day!
Hope everyone enjoys forest shots....here are the pics .
grouseking
I left unsure of the forecast because some were saying rain early and some were saying no rain at all. I checked the auto temperature profile on the Mount Washington website and was shocked to see that it was 31 at Pinkham (1600 ft) and 54 at 4000 feet! I thought that couldn't last but it did. We arrived at the Starr King TR at around 10am with the temp at 42 degrees. It was 37 in Lancaster at 800 ft and 42 at the trailhead at 1500 feet, so the temps were already rising. I still figured the inversion would break down so I brought all my light winter gear, except for crampons. But to my shock, I could feel the temperature getting warmer as I climbed. The wind was actually a warm breeze, which felt alien for this time of year. I was beginning to realize that our southeast wind was probably responsible for warming up the different levels of the atmosphere. So off we climbed...it wasn't a bad climb, but in fall open hardwoods can be kind of ugly. By the time we reached the conifers around 2900 feet, we could tell the temps were near 50 degrees. It felt very strange to Brian and I.
We kept climbing at a slow but fairly steady pace, had the crap scared out of us by two spruce grouse and hit the summit of Starr King around noon. Temps were definitely in the 50s here and if it wern't for the occasional gusts of wind it would have felt like summer. In between Waumbek and Starr King, my attention turned from the weather to the beauty of the forest. It was a wide ridge with huge fir trees draped in Caribou Moss, rock moss, and moose tracks. Some snow was around, and we were told be a pair of hikers that the leftover snow/ive wasn't slippery. Well after nearly faceplanting two or three times both Brian and I started to call the stuff nonslippery ice. (A little sarcastic indeed).
Arriving at Waumbek we took a nice break, and I snapped quite a few pics of the woods and some surprising views just below the summit itself on the Kilkenny Ridge trail. When we found out the temp at the summit was 60 degrees we were blown away. Thats warm for southern New England this time of year, let alone at 4000 feet in the northern White Mtns! We wondered if there was still an inversion (we're both weather geeks) and couldnt wait to check the car thermometer for the ride home (see, geeks).
After tagging my 28th and soaking it all in, we started back. The trail turned into a mud hole so we didn't have to worry about the "non slippery ice", we had to worry about the "non slippery" roots and mud! In no time we were back at Starr King, where we sunned ourselves for about 20 min (yes, sunned ourselves in Nov.). We only stopped because the sun went behind the trees and it was getting a little late. So off we went, strolling down the trail, leaving the patches of snow behind, and believe it or not, feeling the temperatures drop little by little. The temp was at it lowest point around 2900 feet...about 54 degrees. Then we felt it slowly warm up as we descended fto the car (finally something normal)! When we arrived around 4pm, the car thermometer read 60 degrees! Boy I hope everyone got out on Saturday because it was a nice day, and I had a spectacular hike.
The drive back was interesting as well. The temp in Lancaster at 800 feet was 52 degrees, which meant that the inversion was still in place and somehow lasted the day. And it appeared that we walked thru one of them, and drove to another! Finally the last interesting thing that happened was when we were in VT, we saw smoke rising from a chimney. Normally the smoke rises as high as it can go, and then in there is an iversion it flattens out and doesnt rise anymore, similiar to this. Well this was the case as the smoke rose not 10-20 feet out of the chimney and flattened out. It was one of the neatest sights I have ever seen, as it was a weird temperature profile all day!
Hope everyone enjoys forest shots....here are the pics .
grouseking
