night temps

[squeezebox]

Is there a list anywhere for average night temps, and night temp range, or coldest night temp, for the area and months a hiker will likely be on a thru.

[Wise Old Owl]

http://feedback.weather.com/knowledg...d-past-weather


This is a how to look it up page... if I was doing this I would pick towns and zips and adjust for altitude 1 degree subtracted per 1000 feet I vaguely remember for the AT. And most of all remember its a guide - last year at DWG the winds were howling at the beginning of summer making me wish I had my winter kit.

[Slo-go'en]

Not likely. The best you could do is to find historical highs and lows for towns located near the trail in various areas but this won't be very accurate. First off, you don't know where the temperatures were measured. Typically, readings are done at an airport in the area which may or may not be real close to the town in question. And it does not take into account the difference in elevation.

But, I suppose it could give you an idea what to expect. All you really need to know is it can get wicked cold in the spring, wicked hot in the summer and a bit chilly in the fall.

[Traveler]

To extrapolate local lower altitude conditions you can use the standard lapse rate (the cooling of air as altitude increases) of 3.4 degrees per 1,000 feet. Keep in mind this is a standard, so it may be more or less cooling but it should give you an idea of what to anticipate from a "valley forecast".

[takethisbread]

I closely obsessed over weather on my thruhikes: the trail temps are lower than the towns. here is what I observed for night temps: (on trail temps)
March- Georgia to Virginia 20's and 30's at night. Occasional temps in the teens at night. Very high winds though
April -Georgia to Virginia
Night temps in the 30's only occasionally in the 20's or 40's very high winds.
May-Virginia to PA usually in the 40's and low 50's occasional into the low 30's .
I used no sleeping bag damascus to Hanover nh and I only suffered cold for 4 nights around pearisburg.
June and July - 50's and 60's and 70's. Very comfy . PA to Nh.
August in northern New England can be an absolute crapshoot. I saw my temp readings range from 30's to 60's at night.
That continues into September but the range might get high 20's to high 40's in Maine.



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[Jeff]

August can be hot and humid in Vermont, yet many times I hear hikers complain of getting cold at night and wishing they had a better bag.

[freightliner]

Clingmans Dome in Smoky national Park has a Weather tower on it. If you find it you'll be able to see what the weather's been like in years past. Use this as the worst case scenario being that it's the highest mountain down there and will have the worst weather. I would think adding 5° to the temperature would give you the basic idea of what you're going to get down there. The only reason I say to add 5° is that a lot of the trail Down there is at 5000 feet and Clingmans Dome is over 6000 feet.

[HooKooDooKu]

GSMNP publishes a chart (scroll toward the bottom of the page) that lists the average daily hi/lo temperatures by month for both Gatlinburg and Clingman's Dome.

But experience has taught me that actual temperatures can and regularly do range about +/-15º from these averages... and that doesn't include extreme weather events like the recent heavy snow that slammed the mountains on November 1st of 2014.

[Alleghanian Orogeny]

As noted above, the standard variance is 3 to 5 deg F per 1,000' of elevation. In winter, on the back side of cold fronts (often 2-3 days after the leading edge passes), the Southern Appalachians often pick up a high elevation wind out of the southwest. The cold, dense air delivered by the front settles in the valleys while the warmer air delivered by the southwest breeze warms the peaks and ridges. That was the situation on Saturday morning, Nov 29: The temp was 5 to 10 deg F colder in Foscoe, Valle Crucis, and Boone than it was on Snake Mountain, and Snake is a solid 2,000' above those very valleys.

I've seen 15-25 degree inversion variances in box canyons the Wasatch Range in Utah, and within just a couple or three road miles and only 1,500' drop in elevation.

AO

[Wise Old Owl]

Thank's for the reminder - very helpful!

[johnnybgood]

Add to this plethora of weather wisdom the fact that wind speeds will increase approximately 10 degrees every 1000' of elevation. A good wind jacket can make a difference between maintaining core body heat and becoming chilled to the bone.