| Overnight Temperatures in the Central Rockies Custom Object |
| Overnight Temperatures in the Central Rockies   | 
| Page Type: Custom Object Location: Colorado/Utah/Wyoming, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 32.84000°N / 113.91°W Object Type: Informational Chart | Page By: Scott Created/Edited: Apr 5, 2006 / May 31, 2012 Object ID: 186172 Hits: 4043  Loading... Page Score: 86.77% - 4 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
NoteThis is an object to be attached to an articles and messages that I write and is meant to be a simple reference. Coldest CampsBelow are the coldest temperatures I've personally recorded in specific months while camping in the Central Rocky Mountain Region.
| MONTH | TEMP (F) | LOCATION | YEAR | RANGE | STATE | ELEVATION | | JAN | -23 | Preston Peak | 2000 | Wasatch | UT | 10315 | | FEB | -13* | Boreas Pass | 2010 | Front | CO | 11490 | | MAR | -22 | East Fork Bear River | 1999 | Uinta | UT | 8800 | | APR | 0* | Slide Lake | 2012 | Sawatch | CO | 11370 | | MAY | 10 | Yampa River | 2008 | n/a | CO | 6063 | | JUN | 13 | South Fork White River | 2007 | Flat Tops | CO | 7800 | | JUL | 15 | Amethyst Lake | 1995 | Uinta | UT | 10800 | | AUG | 10 | West Fork Rock Creek | 2009 | Beartooth | MT | 8850 | | SEP | 10 | Misty Moon Lake | 2011 | Bighorn | WY | 10286 | | OCT | 1 | Box Canyon | 2003 | n/a | CO | 5800 | | NOV | -20* | Union Creek Basin | 2010 | Gore | CO | 11630 | | DEC | -14 | Hoosier Pass | 2005 | Mosquito | CO | 11540 |
*The above temperatures with an * were recorded at mountain huts.
For tent (or under the stars) campsites only, see the outlines below:
February
-10F at Lake Cathrine (Wasatch Range) at 10,000 feet in 1998 and is the coldest tent campsite for February. The -13F was taken on February 28 2010 at the Section House on Boreas Pass.
April
9F at Montezuma Basin (Elk Mountains) at 11,430 feet on April 16 2006 is the coldest tent campsite for April. The 0F was taken on April 7 2012 at the 10th Mountain Division Hut near Slide Lake.
November
-15F was taken at Yellow Pine Creek (Uinta Mountains) at 9330 feet in 1997 and is the coldest tent campsite for November. The -20F was taken on November 25 2010, at Janets Cabin in Union Creek Basin.SourcesReadings before November 1997 were only taken occasionally. Since that date, I’ve almost always carried a thermometer on overnight trips.
The July 1995 reading was taken from simple REI zipper gauge bulb type thermometer.
Readings between November 1997 and June 2005 were taken with a Springfield spring-coil type thermometer.
With the exception of the November 2010 and September 2011 values (both of which were recorded on zipper gauges), readings from July 2005 to present were taken with one of three Acurite digital recording thermometers, supposedly accurate to 0.1F degrees.Notes and Comments on Some Selected Events1. The above chart is for coldest camps only. I have recorded colder temperatures on day climbs.
On February 11 2006, it was at least as cold as -29F on our climb of Nipple Peak (Elkhead Mountains, CO), but it was a day climb only. It was probably the coldest non-windchill temperature that I have climbed in. Luckily there wasn’t much wind on that particular day. The coldest wind chill I’ve climbed in while in the Central Rockies was probably -54F (-77F on the old windchill chart!) on Northstar Mountain (Mosquito Range, CO) on December 9 2005.
2. Most of the above temperatures were recorded under mostly calm conditions at night, which is usually ideal for cold temperatures. The only exception is the reading from Hoosier Pass on December 11 2005. That night was the surely the windiest night I’ve ever spent while sleeping.
3. The March 5 1999 reading of -22F at the East Fork Bear River is colder than normally might be expected. On calm nights, the cool air really pools into the valley bottom next to the river.
4. The April 7 2012 reading of 0F near Slide Lake was highly unusual because Leadville only got down to 20F that night. There were some weird temperature differentials going on around the state. For example, Craig at only 6200 feet elevation recorded a 9F and many other mountain locations in the vicinity of Slide Lake were much colder than Leadville. It was a very windy night, but around Slide Lake it was calm by morning. If it was still very windy in Leadville, it could explain the huge temperature differential.
5. The June 9 2007 reading of 13F at the South Fork White River was another unusually cold night for 7800 feet. It was also during a record breaking cold snap the day after a snowstorm. Denver had its latest frost ever during the cold snap and several locations around Colorado had record lows on the 8th and 9th. Like the East Fork Bear River, cold air pools along the South Fork Yampa River as well.
6. The July 24 1995 reading of 15F at Amethyst Lake was remarkably cold for July. In fact it was a slightly colder reading than any official weather station has recorded anywhere in Utah during July. 1995 was a heavy snow year and the area around the lake was still buried under deep snow. Amethyst Lake itself was mostly frozen over, but the adjacent shallow pond to the south was ice free in the evening. In the morning the small pond was frozen over with over an inch thick of new ice.
7. The August 28 2009 reading of 10F was the most incredibly cold summer night I had ever spen and all of our water bottles froze solid. Since our elevation was lower than previous nights, I presume that the cold air sinks off the mountains and pools into this meadow. In fact, this night at least tied the coldest temperature at a camp I have ever recorded anytime between April 17 and October 25.
8. The September 4 2011 reading of 10F was taken by another party camped at Mistymoon Lake. All of our water bottles froze, but I did not bring my thermometer on this trip.
I have also recorded a 10F reading on September 30 2005 at Ashley Twin Lakes in the Uinta Mountains of Utah.
9. The October 26 2003 reading of 1F was another unusual one since it is the only one on the list not recorded in the mountains. It was recorded in the open desert not too far from the mouth of Box Canyon in NW Colorado. That same night the official station at Maybell (5940 feet) dropped to 5F and the official station at Craig (6200 feet) dropped to 10F.
10. The November 25 2010 reading of -20F was taken during a rather severe cold snap over Thanksgiving Weekend. Even the lower valleys of Colorado recorded below zero temperatures. Craig Colorado, where I live for example, recorded a -15F at only 6200 feet elevation.
The -20F recorded was not the overnight low; it was only that the thermometer we had only went down to -20F! It likely got colder than that; probably somewhere in the mid -20's. Images
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