Cooler then average temps

[Slo-go'en]

NOAA is predicting cooler then average temps all along the east coast for this summer. That's actually good news in the long term for thru-hikers, even if that means the snow here in NH and Maine will take longer then normal to melt. (High of 17 today, with sub zero wind chills and lows around 0 tonight, again).

But the bad news is it will be hotter then average out west for the PCT and CDT, which probably means drier and more forest fires too.

[Hangfire]

I guess us 2014 thru hikers lucked out with the mild summer last year. The prospect of hiking for months in that brutal humidity really had me worried but some how some way it came and went really quickly. Lets hope this 2015 group gets some good mild hiking weather like last year!

[Walkintom]

This will be 3 years in a row we've had cooler than normal temps.

[Slo-go'en]

This will be 3 years in a row we've had cooler than normal temps.

Along with higher then normal temps out west, which is causing the lower then normal temps in the east, due to the high pressure which parks over Utah. And despite the lower temps in the east, the much warmer temps out west make the overall average for the whole country higher then normal.

[juma]

thanks slo - good news.

[Venchka]

Don't know about "normal" this time of year, but Ray's Weather says it will be in the low 20s when we arrive in Boone, NC Saturday evening. Looking forward to a break from the early summer weather here in Houston.
Have fun!

Wayne

[Namtrag]

It's been in the low 50's in Va Beach...that's the normal February high.

Over the weekend, it was 70 in the mountains and 54 here. Some kind of weird system is giving us a persistent easterly wind off the ocean, which is cold this time of year.

[Vthiker77]

Got to work this morning and it was -8 windchill.... Enough already. I got me some new gear I wanna get out in.

[FatMan]

Sounds like good news. But these long term forecasts are rarely accurate. Heck, the weather people around these parts can't 24 hour forecasts right. Just look at today here at Grassy Gap...I rest my case.