Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

jp_jellyroll t1_izele65 wrote

Reply to comment by GWS2004 in Which is better day trip for this time of year - Cape Cod or mountain climb in the Whites? by kohlrabi_codex

The White Mountains in particular are at the confluence of major continental weather patterns in North America -- cold Arctic air meets warmer ocean air basically. Those different temperature & pressure systems are constantly competing and that's why New England weather is incredibly unpredictable and changes so rapidly compared to other climates.

The effect is amplified by a million times when you're up in the mountains. It's incredibly deceptive. It could be bright & sunny in the morning with a foot of snow by the afternoon depending where you are. Mt Washington gets snow all year round. My friend has a video of snow in mid-July at the summit.

71

LePoultry-geist t1_izeumi6 wrote

Mt Washington also has dangerous winds and wind chills, even held the world's highest recorded wind speed for like 60 years - 231mph. For reference, a cat 5 hurricane is 157mph or higher.

28

exception-found t1_izggu8e wrote

Those are F5 tornado numbers… that’s legitimately frightening

3

Icy-Conclusion-3500 t1_izid1f5 wrote

It’s the windiest place on earth outside of Antarctica. It still holds the highest wind speed record not associated with a tropical cyclone or tornado. (It was dethroned by some random meter in the pacific during a storm).

100mph sustained winds is not unexpected on any given winter day.

2

[deleted] t1_izfcn99 wrote

[removed]

−15

LePoultry-geist t1_izfcvbv wrote

Contrary to your username, what a boomer thing to say. I also love that out of all the places you could've put that in this thread, for some reason it's under my comment?

8

[deleted] t1_izfgadl wrote

[removed]

−7

amydiddler t1_izfi89n wrote

… OP is literally asking for advice on whether hiking is a good idea at this time of year.

8

IFightPolarBears t1_izfvq3k wrote

People die every year in the whites. Shits no joke.

3