World's Worst Weather?

[Kevin Rooney]

Periodically we have a thread on VFTT which heartedly debates whether or not Mt Washington really has the "World's Worst Weather". Hopefully this won't stir up that hornet's nest again, but in any case -

This is the forecast for Bishop, CA and the ski area at Mammoth, just north of that town. Bishop is a couple of hours north of Mt Whitney, and south of Reno.
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FORECAST FOR THE OWENS VALLEY AND MAMMOTH AREA
PROVIDED BY DENNIS MATTINSON
EASTERN SIERRA WEATHER FORECASTER
BROADCASTING FOUR TIMES A DAY ON THE SIERRAWAVE 92.5 / 96.5 FM

LAST UPDATE: 8:18 AM PST JAN 04, 2008

THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF STORMS HAS PRETTY MUCH DIED OUT LEAVING LIGHT SNOW IN MAMMOTH AND THE HIGH COUNTRY. SOME 3 INCHES WAS RECORDED AT THE MOUNTAIN THIS MORNING. THE SECOND ONE IS A BEAST AND IS POISED TO MOVE ON THROUGH MIDDAY TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. THUS THE BLIZZARD WARNING IS STILL IN EFFECT UNTIL SATURDAY AT 10 AM. WITH THIS STORM BOTH WINDS AND SNOW FALL WILL INCREASE GREATLY OVER THE SIERRA SLOPES AND THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. GUSTS OF 150 MPH ARE EXPECTED OVER THE CREST WITH AS MUCH AS 5-6 FEET OF SNOW ON MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN. DRIVING CONDITIONS WILL BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS IN MONO COUNTY WITH GUSTS OF 60 MPH OR MORE ACROSS THE HIGHWAYS AND WHITE OUT CONDITIONS.THE OWENS VALLEY CAN EXPECT RAIN TODAY WITH THE CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT. WHILE THE WIDESPREAD SNOWFALL WILL DIMINISH BY SATURDAY MIDDAY, THE COLD POOL ALOFT WILL TRIGGER NUMEROUS RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. THEN ANOTHER SHORTWAVE MOVES IN SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY SPREADING RAIN AND SNOW THROUGH THE AREA. ONCE AGAIN THE OWENS VALLEY WILL SEE RAIN DURING THE DAY AND THE CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW ON THE VALLEY FLOOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY WILL CONTINUE THE TREND OF UNSETTLED WEATHER WITH COLD CONDITIONS CONTINUING.

THOSE OF YOU PLANNING TRAVEL TO THE EASTERN SIERRA, SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER STATEMENTS ON THESE DEVELOPING SYSTEMS AND COME PREPARED FOR EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS.

 

[BIGEarl]

Kevin,

I was thinking along the same lines as I watched the national weather forecasts that discussed the pending storms out west. It seems this will be a good one to observe from a distance.

Earl

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I thought about you this morning while NPR gave the forecast in terms of 10 feet of snow. I thought MattL and GrouseKing would be all over it!

Tim

 

[Puma concolor]

Are you saying that Mammoth Mountain has the world's worst weather?

 

[cushetunk]

It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

Wait... what are we talking about again?

 

[grouseking]

I thought about you this morning while NPR gave the forecast in terms of 10 feet of snow. I thought MattL and GrouseKing would be all over it!

Tim

I'm jealous of them. I was looking for my plane ticket, but I think its either buried in the 10 feet of snow or it blew away in the 100 mph winds!

As for the comparing....nah, I won't get into it. People who have been on here know where I stand. If you don't, look it up on the previous thread that got destroyed to death.

I'm more pumped that I'm actually going for a hike for the first time in 3 months tomorrow.

grouseking

 

[dentonfabrics]

Amazing. I have been hearing that parts of the Sierras might get up to 10 feet of snow!? Is that possible? Keep warm out there, Kevin.

 

[Maddy]

I really like the 10 feet of snow.
Could you send it our way???

 

[w7xman]

There is no denying that this is one heck of a storm that is slamming the west coast, and there have been some big winds and huge snows reported all over the sierras and other mountain ranges out west. I think I've seen as high as 165mph recorded, though the data looks slightly suspect. I would love to be there during the cleanup with some boards tied to my feet!

As I've highlighted before, there is a repeatability and consistanty factor in the observatory's claim. There are certainly places that from time to time have worse weather in or close to populated places (Intense Hurricanes, Intense Pacific Storms, as well as flash floods and tornadic cells) but Mount Washington gets pretty darn bad pretty darn often.

Over 100 hurricane force gust days, two cat 5 days last year, intense riming, 300+ days a year in the clouds...I definately has the worst reported weather in the world on a consistent basis!