Rocky Mtn storms.

[bald9eagle]

Talk to me about these. Things to watch for, things to do, major issues. It sounds like it's no laughing matter. I've been caught out in some terrible lightening storms while turkey hunting. I tried to get as low as possible and hunker down until it passed.

[saddlesore]

If it is really windy one day,you can bet a storm is moving in and will be there that night or the next day. As for predicting the weather, meteorolgist in CO have dismal record.

For sure you don't want to be above timberline during monsoon season after about 10AM

[Charina]

Other's can speak to CO better than I. My comments come from my decade in UT.

If you are at the high elevations you have been posting about, you should have some sort of radio that receives weather bands (not FM, not AM, but weather bands). Check it every couple days. The National Weather Service can pretty well predict major storms a couple days ahead of time.

You might not get a single storm during your hunt. You might get one or two mild ones. You might get a constant series of smaller storms. You might get whooped by a major storm that will strand you even with the best 4X4. In short, fall weather in the high elevation rockies can be highly variable, and cannot be predicted beyond a week or so. You can't count on anything, so you have to be prepared for everything.

In UT, the typical pattern is for a warm south wind to blow pretty steadily for a day or so. This is because the warmer air from the south is flowing towards a low pressure system coming from the north. High clouds will then begin building. The change over from windy and warm to cold and snowy can happen fast. Within an hour sometimes for a major front. It'll be 65-70 and sunny midday, and snowing like mad before sunset. During later Sep or October, there is not often lightening, but the winds can be just as bad as a strong thunderstorm.

Your real risk IMO is getting stranded by snow. Stranded at camp isn't too concerning, as conditions will likely improve enough to eventually drive out. But getting caught in a remote area by a 'blizzard' can be deadly. Esp if you cross over that 11,500 ridge. You really need to keep tabs on the weather forecast, and have clothing for cold snowy weather should it arrive.

Carry some paracord, and look up youtube videos on making snowshoes from fir branches. 99.9% chance you will never need such, but better to be prepared than suffer/die because you are not.

[six]

Left camp one afternoon about 3. It was sunny and warm. We were just going to drop off the ridge we hunted on in the morning to a small park we found on the map. We were only .5 mile from our spike camp so I didn’t take my pack. We had been set up on the park a couple of hours and it started to snow. I’m in a long sleeve t-shirt and camo pants. Wow rookie mistake. I didn’t want to leave now that it was just getting to the magical time mostly because my buddy was 100 yards away at the other end of the park. I toughed it out and spend most of the night getting warm.

My first year archery hunting Colorado. We headed out one afternoon and were about 1.5 miles from camp. It was sunny at the time and in the 50’s. We heard rolling thunder behind us. My partner and I turned around at the same time and when we saw what was heading our way we both said “oh sh!t” simultaneously. We started toward camp, and soon realized we were not going to make it. We both hung our bows in trees and headed down the mountain a ways. It was crazy. We were literally in the storm as it rolled through. Lightning was flashing all around us and a couple of times I felt the concussion, heard the bang and saw the lightning all at the same time. We got soaked due to having cheap parka style raingear. In about 20 minutes it was over and we headed back for our bows. We were sure they were going to be ruined by the lightning, but after looking for a few minutes we found them still intact. Yes we were panicked and didn’t pay close attention when we hung up our bows. We went back to camp and put on some dry cloths just in time to get back in the action chasing a bugle.

Hope you can learn from my mistakes.

[Lefty]

We got caught in the Unitas in a summer thunder, lightening rain snow and sleet. Temps dropped from mid 70's to low 40's in 10 minutes. I had planned for a possible thunder cloud, but not for that storms conditions . We took cover in a thick grove of trees, then moved as fast as possible to get back to camp. Other families in the area didnt do as well.

One of my wifes friends brother had been on a hike July storm with a group when a thunder storm came though . Now this was a kid was a real cowboy from remote ranch country in NW Box Elder county Utah, He gave up clothing to others in the group and died of hypothermia.

Our first year in Idaho I got a picture of a true 8 inches of snow on June 8th( or was it June ten) . on my back porch. and we are on the Snake river plain 5500 feet

Ive had to shovel snow on July 4 with my wifes Jeep, that was ugly and a under 8,000 elevation

My wife and I when we ATV we pack rain gear , warm gear and survival gear on the ATV. a thunderstorm with wind , sleet rain and lighting can change a great outing into a survival situation quickly.
Typically September elk hunt doesnt have that type of instant extreme

[Indian Summer]

I learned my lesson at an early age. We were on a ranch in low country near Medicine Bow Wyoming. The nearest mountains were the Shirleys. It was t-shirt weather and had been for days. We were hunting mule deer and I was travelling light. All of the sudden out of nowhere the wind came through like a brick wall. Temps dropped by the minute. The sun disappeared. It got nearly dark out and it rained for about 10 minutes before turning into blowing snow. All that from 70 and sunny. I had no jacket. We waited at the truck for one older fellow but he ever showed up. We were worried and after awhile went to the ranch house to see what they thought. There he was sipping a cup of coffee laughing at us for not seeing it coming.

And yes... in the mountains the weather man is rarely right! The mountains can make their own weather and in the Bitterroot I don't know why the even bother having a weather forecast. It's always wrong!

I love a good storm. It's cool watching nature's energy unleash. But pulling a string of mules through an old burn in the dark with 70 mile an hour winds with trees coming down around you will definitely tighten the sphincter muscle!!! (true story)

I can still hear my good friend Marco in the back of the string "Joe" "Yeah Marco what's up?" "I'm scared" "Me too brother me too!" Two tough guys sounding like little girls afraid of the dark. Not very funny at the time but hilarious looking back.

[WapitiTalk1]

Was basecamp hunting near a WA wilderness area a handful of years ago. My buddy and I used a trail system to poke very deep into said wilderness area one day. After a full day of hunting, we timed our day and hunt out to bring us out through a nice area with a handful of natural meadows about an 1 1/2 hours before dark and after hunting those, we would be only a few hundred yards from the 2 1/2 mile long trail that drops down the mountain and back to camp. Well, after thinking nobody was home in the meadow system (and minimal fresh sign) we decided to drop down into a deep draw to a flat spot I'd seen on the map between a couple of lava ridges; it just screamed elk hangout. Our trek into this area had to be done pretty fast as 1. darkness was on the way and 2. distant thunder was heard. We dropped way down in that draw, got into a bull with cows in the spot I wanted to check out, right as darkness hit and..... a rain, thunder, and lightning storm from hell moved in. Off came the packs, rain gear was dug out and put on, and up the draw we went. There was no getting off the mountain going down from there as this spot was bordered by nasty lava flow boulders. It took me almost two hours to get us up and out of that hole with torrential rains hammering us, lightning flashing on the ridges all around, and some really big sonic boom thunder hurting our ears. Once I navigated us to the trail across a steep draw (sprinkled with intermittent lava outcroppings), we finally hit the trail out only to be greeted by a small river running down many parts of the trail. We were on our butts almost as much as we were on our feet getting down and outa there. I started getting very, very chilled about 1/2 way down the trail with early signs of hypo- thermia starting. Once back to camp, we found our tarped gazebo (cook shack/common area) with a river running through it, and, both our sleep tents had huge water under and around them. Buddy and I spent about an hour digging trenches to reroute the running water that was all throughout our camp. Lucky thing I had my propane heater set up in the cook shack to help get the chill off and somewhat dry us off. It was a long day.... Moral of the story? Chose your camp spots wisely, and get the hell off the mountain if bad weather is moving in

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[bald9eagle]

In Alabama we can see bad weather coming well ahead of time. I live in north Alabama where tornados are more common than snowy days. That said on one particular opening day of turkey season my self and one of my good friends started down into a long hollow looking for a bird. An hour after daylight we hear the distant rumble. We pressed on. A few minutes later the wind began to pick up and the lightening started flashing way too near. We hurriedly got to the thickest laurel grove we could find. Having only one rain jacket between the two of us we huddled together under to big leaf laurels with the rain jacket tossed over us in an attempt to keep the rain off us. Somewhere during all this we hear the tornado sirens start to wail in the distance. We had no choice but to ride it out. It took about 30 minutes for the cloud to pass and as soon as it did the birds opened up and screamed their heads off.

[bald9eagle]

Do Colorado storms typically come from the west? Is there a certain elevation where you really start to wonder if you need to get right with The Lord?

[longbowelk]

I think the big couple of things to watch for in the west area is 1st the jet stream and where it is related to where you are hunting. Second is the amount of humidity in the air. Between these 2 you can have a decent idea of what may happen up high. However at then end of the day after following precautions you can still have something bad happen like last year when all the people hiking a 14er in CO thought they were up early enough at the top but they still got struck by lightning. So be prepared with the right clothing and outdoor gear the weather can happen and you can stay safe.

[Charina]

Do Colorado storms typically come from the west? Is there a certain elevation where you really start to wonder if you need to get right with The Lord?

Early in the season, storms can come from the S, SW, W, NW, or directly from the N. Later, into late Sep and Oct, the Southerly flows diminish, and most storms come barreling in out of the NW. Bad weather may come out of the west, but typically, the big bad surprise storms are coming out of the NW. Hence the strong persistent South winds in the day or 1/2 day prior to the front arriving. If it's coming out of the S or W, the risk of cold snowy weather isn't nearly as high, and you might have something more like Phantom's WA rainstorm. It's those low pressure systems diving down from the north that may change to snow in a very short order. In UT, I've had 10+ inches overnight at 6,500 ft the first of October after a 75 degree day. And that was in a range in the rain shadow of another major range. Yes, elevation matters, but even relatively low elk elevations can get pounded.

You won't always get a storm, esp in a short hunt. But you have to be prepared for it. Several have said that mountain weather can't be predicted. I only partly agree. In Sep, thunderstorms can be quite sporadic and unpredictable. The major storms as have been written about here are well forecasted and warned about if you have a way to receive such warnings. Hence my suggestion re a weatherband radio. My weather band radio has provided accurate forecast every day of weather for the three year's I've been using it. The web/radio/tv forecasts are meant for populace areas. Weatherband is intended to give you appraisal of regional conditions outside of those areas, and for high elevations.

[bald9eagle]

I'm going this evening to buy a small hand crank weather radio. Thanks again.

[CurlyTail]

September is the best month of the year in Colorado for weather. The monsoon storms are either gone or diminished in strength. Usually one weekend in the month of September gets snow. Always more intense the higher the altitude. Not uncommon for the snow line to be 8500ft., several inches at 10,500 and snowed in at the top of the mountain.

Always windy and cold above treeline (10,500), even in the summer. You want to be below treeline if lightning is threatening.

[Pmcgee]

My first year in Colorado was definitely an eye opening experience. We were camped at 10,400' and had a storm roll in overnight with some crazy lightning. For a guy coming from PA it was a pretty crazy experience. A week later it was raining most of the day so we were hunkered down in our tents. When I finally stopped hearing the rain pounding the tent I figured great I could get out and stretch. When I unzipped the tent it was snowing like crazy. We only had maybe 4" of snow overnight so it wasn't too bad. Now I think the storms are a cool part of the experience.

[Elkduds]

RE CO: When R U coming? November, thunderstorms unlikely. October can yield thunderstorms so severe they cause flash flooding downstream, but those are unusual. Respectfully disagree a bit w Curly RE monsoon rains in Sept. I plan on rain in Sept, especially the 1st half of the month and in the southern and front range mountains. Otherwise Curly is spot-on, as much as anyone can characterize our wildly variable weather in a few sentences. B Reddy! 4 NE Thing

[Lefty]

I'm going this evening to buy a small hand crank weather radio. Thanks again.

As stated a few times the weatherman doesnt predict most of these storms, You may hear "isolated thunderstorms" and a weather radio wont be that specific
Mid to late afternoon they just "pop-up"

I climbed Mt Borah here in Idaho 3 years ago. the predicted weather was suppose to be"perfect" Highs in the low 80s on the valley floor
I was at the top 4-5 minutes. There was a guide with a bunch of older Boy scouts,.. I told the guide I was bailing,. 15 minutes later it was nasty thunder lightning snow sleet and lots of static coming off the rock.
I crawled in a crevice for 45 minutes the storm dissipated almost as fast as it came. I had a cheap plastic poncho. most didnt, temps dropped into the 50's with 20-30 mph winds,.. the guide had the scouts prepared, but some people weren't ready for the sleet and snow

I have a friend that has climbed a lot of technical Mts across the world. He does lots of climbing in the dark limiting their exposure to wind and weather

[ak32]

I live at 9200ft in western CO. Here is what you can expect.

Late Aug, early Sept up until Mid Sept. is monsoon season still. Expect isolated pop up thunderstorms at the high elevations in the afternoon. A lot of the times it will be mostly wind and not a lot of rain and little thunder, sometimes if the monsoon is strong there will be widespread rain. Check the forecast for rain probability, anything at 40-50% and over is a stronger monsoon flow, I wouldn't worry about 10-20%, but just be careful not to be exposed above treeline late in the afternoon.

Usually there is a nice dry period near the last 2 weeks in Sept. when the monsoons stop and the weather starts to transition, think really warm cloudless days. It might be broken up for a day or two where you'll get a light dusting or accumulation of snow at the higher elevations (10-11k and above). Once October hits all bets are off as the first decent winter storms can hit, or it could be 60 degrees and really warm/dry. October is a crap shoot, same with November.