Got caught in a thunderstorm on the Long Trail and now I obsess over weather apps

I was 3 days into a solo stretch near the Maine junction and the sky just opened up out of nowhere. No cell service to check radar, and I ended up huddled under a tarp for 4 hours. Anyone else have a go-to weather tool they use before a trip?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron_perry12d ago

Took me a few storms like that before I realized the marine forecast sites are way more useful than the regular weather apps. The NOAA offshore forecasts give you wind and pressure trends that hit the mountains before the rain actually shows up. I check the 500mb charts too just to see if there's a big trough coming through, that's usually the sign to push harder or bail early. Pair that with a simple barometric pressure log on my phone, you start seeing patterns after a while.

bennett.harper12d agoMost Upvoted

And you're absolutely right about the pressure log. I started keeping one a few years ago and it's been a game changer for my ski touring. When I see that barometer dropping faster than a millibar an hour, I know I've got maybe 6 to 8 hours before things get nasty up high. The 500mb charts can be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you learn to spot a closed low spinning off the coast, it's like reading the storm's playbook. I also like to cross reference with the satellite water vapor imagery, that really shows you how much moisture is in the pipeline.