The weather last Friday was near-perfect for a hike to the summit of 11,427-foot Twin Sisters Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Thanks to the forecast guidance provided by SummitCAST, our team was able to squeeze in a fun late-March excursion with no concerns about ugly weather. Twin Sisters is just one of many lower elevation hikes coming soon to SummitCAST. We review the weather from our recent hike and update you on the status of SummitCAST development.
A hike retold
Over the holiday weekend, other commitments limited our available days for hiking to either Friday (March 30) or Sunday (April 1). We opted against hiking Twin Sisters Peak on Sunday due to the threat of morning snow/clouds, despite the fact that Sunday afternoon’s temperatures were projected to be warmer than Friday and even with lighter winds. The 3-day forecast created from March 29th model data is shown below for the top of Twin Sisters. For our hike on Friday, we expected sunny skies, temperatures in the 20’s to lower 30’s, and 30 to 40 mph wind gusts at the summit.
As you can see from the summit photo below taken around 2:00 PM, it was a beautiful vernal day with sunshine and a few inches of semi-fresh snow on the ground. On the forecast graphics to the right, we notated several actual weather observations in red from the hike. Temperature and wind measurements were taken using our handy Kestrel 5500. We started around 11:00 AM with a trailhead temperature of 36 degrees and mostly sunny skies. We concluded at about 5:00 PM under partly cloudy skies, blustery winds, and a temperature of 42 degrees. Overall a great forecast for the trailhead.
Twin Sisters trailhead and summit forecasts (right) and a photo of the summit around 2:00 PM on March 30, 2018. (Photo credit: Matt Nan Tie).
When we reached the summit at 2:00 PM, the temperature was 29 degrees, just as forecast. Thick but patchy wave clouds filled the sky through the afternoon hours, with winds really starting to pick up as we began our descent. Blowing snow and ice shards above treeline were an issue due to clocked 45 mph wind gusts around 2:30 PM. Luckily the winds and blowing snow relaxed upon re-entering the forest.
The header image for this post was taken on this hike….a photo of epic Longs Peak and Mt. Meeker, the summits of which were in and out of the clouds that day…
Looking ahead
SummitCAST already includes 94 different hikes, including all of Colorado’s 14ers as well as a medley of nearby 13ers. We also know that many of you enjoy the outdoors at lower elevations. In a recent poll, lower elevation hikes came in a strong second place for the most wanted BoulderCAST feature.
Poll results gathers in late February 2018.
Today were happy to announce this is an active work in progress and should be ready in no time. Here is a list of the first wave of lower elevation hikes coming soon to SummitCAST. Several of these were requests from readers, but many others are just locally popular or some of our personal favorites.
We may end-up adding more hikes down the line. Please reach out if you have a request.
SummitCAST already provides bleeding-edge forecasts for mountain weather, and it’s getting better everyday. Using predictive analytics (machine learning) from actual mountain weather observatories, SummitCAST is becoming more accurate with each and every passing day. The first two days of our mountain forecasts are always free. However, a BoulderCAST Premium subscription is required to unlock the full six days.
If you have any comments, questions, or weather to report from a hike, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We’d love to hear how SummitCAST has served you well (or not)!
P.S: Sunrise and sunset forecasts are the top requested feature by our readers. More information on this will follow in the coming months. It is on our radar (no pun intended)!
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