View Full Version : just how cold can I expect it to be late march?
Hello,
Starting late March (ie near first day of Spring from Springer and heading north bound..just how cold can I expect temperatures to be? teens at night and 30s in day? Frigid nights in single digits? or perhaps even occassionally toasty 60's being that its way down south?
I am trying to get a handle on how much to gear up clothes wise. I know in the whites it can be 30's and 40's day time down to single digits or less night time (for 3500-400 ft elevation). I don't go near the presis out side of summer!
davidnh
http://www.thru-hiker.com/temporal.aspgood link for temps along the AT.
Spirit Walker
11-18-2005, 17:58
Starting at Springer around April 1 on two different hikes, I had nights in the '20's and days in the 50's or '60's during the first week. On one hike I had snow in the Smokies in mid-April; the next time the ground was covered with flowers. Then it snowed on us on May 9. (We had about six inches; I think Mt. Mitchell had two feet.) The weather can vary a lot. I think most important for starting out is good raingear so you can handle cold spring rains/sleet. That and a warm bag (20 deg.) will see you through.
max patch
11-18-2005, 18:04
Starting late March (ie near first day of Spring from Springer and heading north bound..just how cold can I expect temperatures to be? teens at night and 30s in day? Frigid nights in single digits? or perhaps even occassionally toasty 60's being that its way down south?
Yes. All of the above. Be prepared for temps in the teens at night and hope you don't experience it.
I left May 1 w/a 20 degree bag and still had cold nights even with wearing all my clothes. Snow flurries in the GSMNP.
In 1993 in mid-March Springer got over 2 feet over snow. Rangers were rescuing hikers.
I started Mar 20 in 04 and several times had the temperatures plunge to around 10 degrees at night. Days were much better, once the sun had a chance to warm things.
This year I started April 18th with a 40 degree bag. There were many nights in the 30's and one got into the teens. I thought I was going to die that night. I never knew I could fall asleep sitting, up shivering with my eyes open.
Ramble~On
11-19-2005, 04:03
100% chance of anything happening at any time.
I hike a lot year round in GA, TN and NC and actually like it the colder, windier and snowier... but year to year varies and elevation changes temps so if you plan for single digits through 60's where you can shed and add layers you should be alright....you're from NH so I'm sure you know what cold is in the winter and early spring. GA and NC shouldn't be much different...It's further south but the elevation can cause temperatures to vary big time.
I very rarely get my clothes "just right" on any given winter trip...I usually end up carrying things that I didn't need...Once in a while I spend some quality shiver time deep in my bags wearing everything I brought along anxiously waiting for the sun to pop up.
So I guess it's a matter of better to have and not need than to need and not have. Of course the second you send something ahead or home is when the mercury drops and the snow with it.
I started in mid-April 1984. It rained 12 of the first 14 days I was on the trail. Did I say rain? I meant cold rain, with the temperature hovering just above freezing, with a raw fog hanging in the air. At times, it sleeted, at other times gale force winds drove the rain horizontal. Staying dry was not an option. Lightning hit so close on one ridge that I retracted my tongue to keep from biting it off. The threat of hypothermia was unrelenting. Miserable? That seems like so weak a word. The couple I started with had trained for a year and a half. They didn't even make it to Dick's Creek Gap (before the NC border). Many, many others left the trail in Georgia. Only the truly obsessed continued on.
I tried to get by wearing all my clothes inside an inadequate sleeping bag. Big mistake.
Be sure you're well prepared, mentally, physically, and equipment-wise. You can always send some of your cold weather gear home at the appropriate time.
Youngblood
11-19-2005, 09:52
This year I started April 18th with a 40 degree bag. There were many nights in the 30's and one got into the teens. I thought I was going to die that night. I never knew I could fall asleep sitting, up shivering with my eyes open.
... as long as you were having fun.:D Did you make many promises or put any curses on the head of whoever told you that you would be fine with a 40 degree bag?
About falling asleep sitting up, shivering with your eyes open... wasn't there a character like that in Robert Redford's movie Jeremiah Johnson? Seems like he didn't wake up. All kidding aside, you were lucky to make it through that night. I left March 18th in 2000 with a 20 degree bag and don't think I ever slept out in temperatures much below 30 degrees. (With the clothes I had I would have probably been okay with a 10 degree night, except I started out with a UltraLite Thermarest pad... that would have been my weakest link, especially if I was on a raised shelter floor.) A lot of that was luck in that I was never up high when a cold front came through... if I had a choice I would stay another day or two in town and let them blow through. I dodged the biggest storms that came my way by staying 3 nights at Fontana Village (the south end of the Smokies) and staying 2 nights in Gatlingberg (the middle of the Smokies). I was inexperieced at backpacking when I started out and understood that. Nodays I feel like I know a lot more about backpacking and insulation in particular. You need to not only have a warm enough sleeping bag but also have a corresponding warm enough insulator underneath you. Sleeping pads or mats are for cushioning AND insulation.
This is similar to a thread called Mid March Start dates. Here is my response to that thread:
I left Springer on March 13th this year. It was gorgeous most days, but quite cold most nights. Light snow on St. Patricks day. Blizzard conditions on April 2nd (Fontana-GSMNP). More heavy snow April 24th(north of Erwin). It was cold well into May/June this year. Gypsy Lulu kept using the line "always winter, but never Christmas" from Lion,Witch,and the Wardrobe. that said, once it got warm, it got really warm......
Even when you miss the snow, you get the joy of hiking in slush, mud afterwards. Some of my hardest days were the ones through the Great Smokey Mountains in the deep mud ruts after the blizzard
Even when you miss the snow, you get the joy of hiking in slush, mud afterwards. Some of my hardest days were the ones through the Great Smokey Mountains in the deep mud ruts after the blizzard[/I]
:eek: Yikes! I remember those; relentless miles of washed out rut bottomed by irregular rocks, mudholes and pools of slushy icewater!
2009ThruHiker
11-21-2005, 13:43
http://www.thru-hiker.com/temporal.aspgood link for temps along the AT.
Link seems broken.
hikerjohnd
11-21-2005, 13:55
Try this link : http://www.thru-hiker.com/temporal.asp
Gray Blazer
11-21-2005, 14:53
I've had it get to 40 one night on Big Hump In July!
First of June 2003, I went over the top of Big Hump (I think) very early in the morning to find two people knocking ice off of their tent before they packed it.
I have to agree with what so many have already said - be prepared for anything. I hiked with a 20 degree bag that did me well, there were nights that I had all of my other warm clothes on in addition. I also hiked through a miserable ice storm, had a blast the whole time mind you. Rain gear is highly recommended. One piece of advice I would suggest. I remember the year that I hiked it rained quite a bit in the begining, most of the other hikers would hold up all day int he shelters bitching and complaining about how cold and wet it was. Mind you they were sitting in one place freezing their buts off. I passed so many people at that point that I never saw again. For myself, I was not cold, since I kept moving. The best time ot do boring miles is in the rain.
I started in mid-April 1984. It rained 12 of the first 14 days I was on the trail. Did I say rain? I meant cold rain, with the temperature hovering just above freezing, with a raw fog hanging in the air. At times, it sleeted, at other times gale force winds drove the rain horizontal. Staying dry was not an option. Lightning hit so close on one ridge that I retracted my tongue to keep from biting it off. The threat of hypothermia was unrelenting. Miserable? That seems like so weak a word. The couple I started with had trained for a year and a half. They didn't even make it to Dick's Creek Gap (before the NC border). Many, many others left the trail in Georgia. Only the truly obsessed continued on.
I tried to get by wearing all my clothes inside an inadequate sleeping bag. Big mistake.
Be sure you're well prepared, mentally, physically, and equipment-wise. You can always send some of your cold weather gear home at the appropriate time.
As near as I can figure -- based on several spring trips to the high mountains and ridges of Georgia and North Carolina; and observances of the changing vegetation from my 2,000 mile walk in 1993 -- the climate along these ridges is pretty close to the climate of mid-coast Maine.
If I am right, you can expect winter conditions. My '93 walk began in mid-April. I made do with a 45º sleeping bag, but I augmented it with a down jacket, dry heavy wool socks and quilted long johns, all of which I managed to keep dry.
I experienced some chilly nights, but nothing that kept me from sleeping, even in the open shelters, which I favored. A tent adds around 10º to winter temperatures. But I sleep warm and trained myself to sleep extra warm during the winter of '92-'93 by deliberately sleeping with minimum amounts of bedding. Had I been starting a month earlier, I would have carried a 20º bag and augmented it with the same down jacket and long john combination.
Weary
hopefulhiker
11-21-2005, 17:05
The cold is not that bad but when combined with wet sleet or cold rain it can become pretty uncomfortable. I suggest a good rain layer with longunderwear and a fleece layer. There was wet snow in Georgia at Neels Gap. It was very wet in March and April of 2005. I even siliconed the entire outside of my Sundowner boots every 10 days or so. My feet were dry except for the sweat. I stayed off the trail for three days in Fontana waiting out the first blizzard in March. Although I know that some like Rocky and Hareball hiked right through it. Snowman went up in it with just a garbage bag and my short gaitors. There was another blizzard in April right out of Hot Springs, trailfest weekend last spring, completely unexpected...